


The Mysterious Maroon

by FungusDungus000



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Action/Adventure, Brainwashing, F/M, Interrogation, Kidnapping, Minor Violence, Mystery, Secret Identity, Superheroes, Tacos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24406807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FungusDungus000/pseuds/FungusDungus000
Summary: One dark night in the quaint little town of Echo Creek, magical princess Star Butterfly was ambushed by a squad of xenophobic thugs, but was suddenly saved by Maroon, a mysterious masked vigilante. After their fateful encounter, the enigmatic warrior recruits Star to help him stop a larger conspiracy that threatens both their worlds. As the two heroes fight against a powerful enemy, Star intends to learn the true identity of the mysterious Maroon...(AU taking place after "My New Wand")
Relationships: Marco Diaz/Janna Ordonia, Star Butterfly & Original Character(s), Star Butterfly/Marco Diaz
Kudos: 1





	1. The Name's Maroon

Night. When the sun lowers down and the moon rises into the darkened skies, all sorts of dreaded evils arise. However, such nighttime evils were relatively uncommon in the quaint little town of Echo Creek. This town was a peaceful one, although strange occurrences of the magical variety would occur on a daily basis, due to a foreigner living in the city who was...how you say, "not of this world."

Said foreigner was Star Butterfly, a magical princess from the dimension of Mewni. On this cool, breezy night, Star was heading out of the local movie theater with a close friend of hers, the teenage troublemaker Janna Ordonia. The two girls had just viewed "The Killer Van," a cheesy horror movie about, well...a van that went around running people over.

"Man, was that movie hilarious or what? So cheesy." Janna remarked, to see that Star was shivering and nervously looking around the street. "Wait, were you actually SCARED during that movie?" The raven-haired girl queried.

"Nobody told me Earth has killer vans!" Star babbled, terrified by the gory spectacle she had witnessed on the silver screen.

"What? That movie was so cheesy. You're just scared because Marco wasn't here. If he was, you would've been hugging him during the scary parts." Janna retorted.

"I wish Marco could come, but he said he has to study for math with Alfonso and Ferguson." Star groaned.

"He probably just made that up so he could chicken out." Janna remarked, when she got an idea. "Speaking of safe kid, I think I'll pay him a little visit." The delinquent beamed with a devious grin.

"Yoink!" Janna piped, as she snatched Star's magic dimensional scissors from her person.

"My scissors! Give those back!" The Mewman angrily exclaimed. She tried to take back her tools of travel, but Janna kept moving them away from her grasp.

"Relax! I'm just borrowing them for the night, I'll give them back tomorrow." Janna claimed. She could see that Star was getting annoyed, so she quickly thought up a distraction.

"Look, it's the Killer Van!" Janna shouted, causing Star to jump in fright and frantically look for the van. While the princess was distracted, Janna used the scissors to tear open a portal and make her escape. When Star looked back to where her troublesome friend was standing, she realized she had been tricked.

"Now I know how Marco feels..." Star groaned, as she started to walk down the street and find her way home on foot...

Usually, the streets of Echo Creek were rather safe, and were not to be feared. However, Star was quite afraid being out on the street, alone and without her scissors. She was oddly paranoid that the Killer Van would come out of nowhere and turn her into roadkill...

Star was nervously fast-walking down the street, while reassuring herself that the Killer Van isn't a threat. "Come on, Star. You fight monsters all the time, what's a stupid little car gonna do?" The princess quietly said to herself.

Suddenly, Star heard the sound of a motor vehicle driving down the road. She turned around, and saw a black van driving towards her, just like the one in the movie! The van's engine roared as it started to drive faster, and it seemed to be heading right for her!

"THE KILLER VAN!" Star screamed in terror. She held out her magic wand, and stood her ground to fend off the potentially murderous vehicle.

"EXPLOSIVE CUPCAKE BLAST!" Star shouted, as she fired a volley of magical exploding cupcakes at the windshield of the van, causing it to swerve across the road and skid to a grinding halt.

Star then took a few deep breaths and lowered her wand, relieved that she had defended herself from the so-called "Killer Van." However, her relief turned into horror when she saw the doors of the vehicle open. That was no killer van; Just a regular automobile with people inside!

"OH MY GOSH, I'M SO SORRY! I thought you were an evil monster van!" Star profusely apologized, when she saw the passengers step outside of the vehicle.

The passengers of the van were four adult men, dressed in dark blue coats with black armored vests over them. Other accessories they wore included black boots, pants and fingerless gloves. Their faces were masked by tactical helmets with blue-lensed goggles. On their backs were assault rifles in their resting positions.

"Are you guys okay?" Star inquisitively asked. The captain leading these men, who had a vertical white stripe running down the middle of his helmet, pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt and spoke into it.

"We've found the target." The white-striped warrior spoke, as his three companions aimed their rifles at Star, their laser sights gleaming on her face and chest. Star began to feel even more terrified now than she was before; Turns out that van really was evil!

Star quickly whipped out her wand and fired a pulse of magic at the four men, knocking them away. After her sudden attack, the Mewman princess decided to make a run for it. Terrified, she sprinted down the streets as the four thugs got back up.

"AFTER THEM!" The white-striped captain of the group ordered. The subordinate soldiers fired their guns at the fleeing Mewman, who could feel the bullets whizzing past her.

Star quickly turned around and yelled out "Super-Safety Sweetheart Shield!" A heart-shaped shield of fuschia-colored hard light appeared behind her, and blocked the bullets the helmet-wearing warriors fired at her.

The captain of the clan of cads ignited a flash-bang grenade, and threw it at the princess. It exploded, letting out a blinding flash of light and a loud, explosive bang, disorienting Star and causing her trip and fall into a nearby alley.

As Star lay on the concrete blinded, disoriented and confused, she could faintly hear the footsteps of the masked men coming closer, but all other sound was obscured by the ringing in her ears. The princess fumbled around for her wand, but was unable to find it with her vision obscured.

The four armed thugs approached the dazed Mewman, and looked down at her crawling on the ground in her feeble state.

"Too easy." One of the masked troopers remarked.

"Why don't we have a little fun with her while she's down?" Another goon sadistically cackled.

"Enough talk, let's kill this alien scum!" The captain snarled, as he pulled out his pistol. Suddenly, he heard a snapping sound, and was hit in the back with a blast of glowing red energy. The captain then fell to the ground stunned.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" A deep, metallic voice shouted in an infuriated tone.

The four masked men looked up to see a figure most strange standing on the roof of a building.

This enigmatic vigilante wore quite an elaborate costume: First was his intimidating headgear, which covered his whole head and masked his face; A metal helmet painted red, with glowing purple eyes and two metallic, horn-like rods on the sides where his ears would be. A pair of black mechanical bracelets rested on his wrists.

His vest was black, as were his gloves, belt and boots: The spandex uniform he wore under these accessories were the same shade of red as his helmet. Last was his mighty cape, with a black exterior, and an underside that was a shade of light grey.

As Star started to regain her vision, she could see the mysterious vigilante standing proud on the roof, his cape flowing in the cool, breezy wind.

"Woah..." The Mewman royal moaned in awe.

"Who do you think you are?" One of the goons hissed with corrosive vitriol.

"The name's Maroon." The helmeted vigilante replied.

"Well, we don't care! We'll kill you, then we'll squash the bug!" Another masked thug jeered.

"Well, I tried to warn you." Maroon remarked, as he activated his thigh-mounted jet boosters and flew up into the air.

Maroon descended from the air and drop-kicked the goon standing in the center of the alley, knocking him to the concrete ground.

The two other troopers held out their rifles to shoot him at point blank, but he snapped his fingers, unsheathing two foot-long metal blades that came out from his bracelets. Using these blades, he sliced their rifles apart, rendering them useless!

As Maroon was taking down the unarmed mercenaries in hand-to-hand combat, Star began to quickly recover from her dazed state, and watched in awe as the masked vigilante took down her potential assailants.

Suddenly, the princess noticed Maroon was in danger; The captain of the mercenaries had gotten back up, and was beginning to aim his pistol at the hero's heart! Acting fast, she picked her wand up off the ground, and aimed it at the pistol-wielder.

"NARWHAL BLAST!" Star exclaimed, as her wand glowed with blue light and fired a flurry of real live narwhals at the captain, knocking him across the road and into a brick wall.

Maroon turned to see who saved him, and saw Star standing proud outside the alley. "Thanks for the save." Maroon commended as he nodded at the princess.

"No problem." Star retorted, when she saw the other three masked troopers rise from the ground. "Here, watch this!" Star cooed as she did a twirl and cast another spell from her wand.

"HONEYBEE TORNADO SWARM!"

With her exclamation and a flash of light from her wand, a cyclone of angry bees swarmed the malicious and murderous masked malefactors, and stung them with extreme prejudice.

"RUN AWAY!" One of the goons cried. The trio of thugs then fled the scene in terror, pursued by Star's swarm of bees. With the dangerous enemies dealt with, Star walked up to the mysterious vigilante in an effort to get to know him...

"So, who are you?" Star curiously questioned.

"The name's Maroon. When night falls, I fight crime and protect this city from the forces of evil." The helmet-wearing warrior answered.

"Nice to meet you, Maroon. I'm Star Butterfly, a magical princess from another dimension!" Star introduced herself to the vigilante, when they both heard a groan coming from across the road; It was the leader of those villainous masked thugs!

"Excuse me for a second." Maroon commented, as he turned away from Star and leapt at the man in the white-striped helmet.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?" Maroon angrily shouted in an effort to get answers from him.

"Screw you! I'll never talk!" The captain hatefully hissed.

"I have ways of making you talk." Maroon threatened, as he aimed his wrist-mounted blaster right at his enemy's chest.

"Oh, let me do this!" Star called out as she walked over to the man Maroon was interrogating. "TATTLETALE BLAST!" Star hollered as she blasted the masked man with a ray of pink energy, but it seemingly did nothing to him physically.

"Okay, now ask him." The princess commented.

"Who are you, and who do you work for?" Maroon asked again, calmer this time.

"My name is Captain Soren Patel, I work for Cobalt Watch!" The interrogated man exclaimed in a trance.

"What's Cobalt Watch?" Star wondered.

"An organization bent on killing alien threats to Earth...threats like HER!" Captain Patel barked as he pointed at Star.

Star was insulted and horrified by this revelation; Why would people think she's a threat?

"One more question, Soren...where's their base?" Maroon inquired.

"It's in the abandoned Avidex Industries facility outside of town!" The Cobalt Watchman huffed.

"Thanks for the tip." Maroon remarked, as he snapped his fingers and launched a whip-cord that tied Captain Patel to a lamp-post. "Stay here, the cops should be here shortly." The masked vigilante added as he started to walk away.

Feeling concerned and nervous after nearly losing her life to Cobalt Watch, Star decided to follow the mysterious crimson-clad warrior and vent to him.

"Hey, uh...Maroon?" Star nervously asked. The caped hero turned to face his new Mewman friend.

"Yeah?" Maroon responded.

"I dunno, it's just sorta scary how those guys wanted to kill me, I mean what did I do? I thought Earth was full of nice people..." Star sighed.

"Well, Earth is full of nice people and bad people, just like everywhere else. Lucky for you, I'm one of the nice ones." Maroon explained.

"Hey, you're right!" Star realized as she began to smile. Without warning, she tried to give the hero who saved her a thankful hug, but bumped her head on his metal helmet. "Ow!" The princess exclaimed.

"Yeah, watch the helmet." Maroon retorted. "If those Cobalt guys come back, I can take 'em. It's my job." The masked vigilante claimed.

"I don't need a hero, you know..." Star spoke to Maroon. "But sometimes I wouldn't mind having one."The Mewman princess continued.

"It was nice meeting you, but I gotta go now. See you around, Butterfly." Maroon remarked as he activated his thigh-mounted jets, and began to fly off into the night sky...

Back on the ground, Star just watched in awe as Maroon flew away. Suddenly, she heard the sound of police sirens blaring a block away, and knew it was time for her to go to. The princess used her wand to summon a magic cloud for her to ride through the skies, until she reached the Diaz family household.

As Star cruised through the air, the mystery of Maroon was still on Star's mind. Who was the man behind that metal mask? She had no clue, but knew one thing; He was certainly a hero...

LATER, IN THE LAIR OF COBALT WATCH...

In the secret lair of the shadowy Cobalt Watch organization, an enigmatic man sat in a room with a large projector screen. This man was a rather imposing figure, wearing a suit of technologically advanced armor colored cobalt-blue. A blue helmet covered his whole head and masked his face. His name was unknown to most, but his alias was Commander Cobalt, the mysterious leader of Cobalt Watch...

This armored warrior was sitting on a high-tech mechanical chair, analyzing the videos he was watching; They were various clips of Star fighting sinister monsters with her karate-practicing best friend, Marco Diaz. Suddenly, his viewing session was interrupted when three men entered his room.

"Commander Cobalt!" One of the men piped. They were three maskless Cobalt Watch troopers with bee stings all over their bodies.

The commander paused a video of Star smacking a giraffe monster in the head to face his subordinates.

"What happened to you? Where's Captain Patel?" Commander Cobalt queried in his deep, foreboding, almost mechanical-sounding voice.

"It was that witchy Butterfly girl!" One of the men cried as he rubbed ointment on his sting wounds.

"Well, did you kill her like I told you to?" Cobalt asked.

"We almost had her, but some masked creep saved her! He called himself...Maroon..." The trooper explained, causing Cobalt to sigh in exasperation.

"Looks like Cobalt Watch has a new enemy..." The armored commander noted, as the troopers left the room, embarrassed that they were defeated by a teenage girl. Cobalt angrily slammed his fist down on his throne and muttered to himself;

"For Earth's safety...Star Butterfly must die..."


	2. The Science Fair

The morning following the ambush in the alley, Star walked down the halls of Echo Creek Academy with her best friend, the fourteen-year-old Marco Diaz. These academic halls were rather clamorous and busy, as today was the school's annual Science Fair!

"Alright, I have our project all set up in the gym." Marco explained.

Star said nothing back, as she was rather zoned out, still daydreaming about last night's encounter with Cobalt Watch, and how Maroon came to save the day.

"Uh, Earth to Star." Marco remarked, snapping the Mewman back into reality.

"Sorry, Marco. I was just thinking about last night." Star replied.

"What happened last night?" Marco asked.

Star quickly explained the story of Maroon to her friend, recounting how the helmet-wearing hero saved her from the malevolent forces of Cobalt Watch...

"So, looks like our town has a superhero now." Marco remarked.

"What's a superhero?" Star curiously asked.

Star and Marco's conversation regarding the mystifying vigilante caught the attention of their mutual friend Janna, who held interest in many things strange and macabre, and the mystery of Maroon was no exception. Janna quickly sauntered over to the twosome to speak of the helmeted hero.

"You met Maroon?" Janna inquired with a sly and curious grin.

"I did, because someone took my dimensional scissors." Star groaned still annoyed that Janna took her magical traveling tools to spy on Marco.

"Oh right, here you are." Janna responded, as she handed Star the scissors. The princess snatched the scissors from her hand and protectively hid them away.

"Well, if you didn't take my scissors, I wouldn't have met Maroon." Star realized.

"Lucky you! I tried stalking that dude for a week and hadn't got a glimpse!" Janna exclaimed.

Marco was shocked by Janna's anecdote: Maroon would have to be incredibly stealthy to avoid her; He knew this more than anyone, from experience, of course.

As the three amigos continued walking down the halls, Star kept raving on and on about last night.

"That Maroon was really something. I bet he's cute under that helmet." Star swooned, when she suddenly realized a possible candidate for the vigilante's true identity. "OOH! What if he's Oskar Greason! That guy's so mysterious!" The princess gushed.

"Nah, I bet Maroon has all kinds of crazy scars and burns. That's why he wears the mask!" Janna added.

"What do you think?" Star asked Marco. Marco paused to think, and weighed in on the subject.

"Honestly, I think he's just a normal guy who wants to help people. Maybe he's a she, who knows?" Marco mused as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, what if it's Jackie Lynn-Thomas?" Janna suggested as she eyed Marco.

"I dunno, it didn't look like her, but she IS pretty athletic." Star commented.

"I bet she'd look pretty hot in the suit, huh, Diaz!" Janna teased Marco, elbowing him sharply. Marco became flustered by the enticing image that popped in his head, and blushed. "Janna!" The safe kid stammered, as the two girls giggled at him.

A FEW HOURS LATER...

During the final period of the school day, the annual Science Fair was being held in the academy's gymnasium. Over a dozen different projects were being displayed, including the standard tripe of these types of gatherings: These included a paper-maché volcano, crystals grown in a jar, and a mouse in a maze; All things we've seen before. However, one project was a never-before-seen example, and it was made from the combined effort of Star and Marco.

At first glance, this project seemed rather bare: There was no title or background information, only a seed buried in dirt, which sat in a red ceramic pot. However, when the time would come for presentation, there would be far more to the humble creation than meets the eye.

However, the science fair was still in its grace period; Judging would be in five minutes. During the downtime, Star darted her eyes around the room, waiting in anticipation. Suddenly, her eyes were caught by a project in the corner of the room.

This stand was manned by a boy she'd never seen before: He must have been new to the school. This boy, an African-American youth about the same age as Star, wore a blue hooded jacket with a black shirt underneath, as well as black shorts cut just above the knee. The color of his eyes matched his jacket, and his black hair was very short, in the form of a buzz cut. This young man carefully tuned his science project: A model rocket-ship he built himself. Star wondered who he was, and turned to ask Marco.

"Who's that guy?" The princess asked, as she pointed to the kid, still hard at work on his rocket.

"That's Austin Capers, he's new here. Moved here a couple weeks ago, actually." Marco explained. "You wanna meet him?"

"Do I?" Star giddily exclaimed, and the two made their way over to Austin's table.

Austin looked up from his work, and saw the two approaching him. The young man smiled, and greeted them. "Marco, my dude! How's it going?" Austin asked.

"Pretty good! Marco, replied. "Austin, this is my best friend, Star. Star, this is Austin!" Marco introduced the two to each other.

"Hi!" Star greeted her new colleague as she grinned and waved.

"Pleasure to meet you, your highness. Marco's told me so much about you!" Austin exclaimed.

Star was surprised the two knew each other so well. "Wait, you guys are friends? How come you never told me about him?" Star queried. Before Marco could explain, Austin interjected to talk about his science project.

"This is my project; A working model rocket-ship! I'd say it's my best creation yet" Austin boasted. "What about you guys?" The junior scientist queried.

"Well, our project's a surprise, but lemme just say, it's gonna be magical." Star hinted.

"Well, good luck to you both." Austin spoke, as he shook both of their hands. "You're going to need it." He bragged. The two friends said goodbye to Austin, and began to walk back to their table. "We are so gonna win this." Star beamed.

Mere minutes later, the science fair's judging period began. The judge of this event was the school principal, Mr. Skeeves. He picked up a microphone, and announced the first project to be reviewed.

"Our first project comes from Echo Creek Academy's newest student, Austin Capers!" Skeeves announced. Scattered applause emanated around the room. Austin stood up, and the principal handed him the microphone.

"I must warn you all, this project is gonna get messy, so if you'd kindly follow me outside." Austin spoke, as he took his rocket and walked outside, to the schoolyard.

Everyone followed outside to see Austin's project in action. The young inventor set the rocket on the ground, and pulled out a remote. "Observe! Five four, three, two, one!" Austin counted, and when he got to one, he activated the remote.

The rocket ignited, and propelled itself at a blinding speed, climbing one hundred feet into the air! While everyone in the crowd was oohing and awwing, Star was shocked: The sound of the rocket, she heard that sound before! Yes, the jets of the rocket sounded just like the jets Maroon used to hover in the air!

Eventually, the rocket lost its momentum, and fell back to the ground, right into Austin's hand. The crowd roared with applause, and Austin humbly took a bow. As he accepted his praise, Star started to realize something; Could this unassuming young man be the true face of Maroon?

After ten more projects from various students, most of which were rather run-of-the-mill, Star and Marco's project was up. The whole school gathered around to see what they had done. Principal Skeeves looked at the seemingly empty pot of dirt, confused. "Erm...what is your project on?" The principal asked. "Well..." Star smiled, as her wand started to glow.

Star explained what their project was: An experimental study on how magic can make plants grow faster. Marco put on his safety goggles, and Star fired a blast of magic from her wand. The magic blast hit the ceramic pot, causing a whole bushel of ripe, red strawberries to rapidly grow from the dirt. The fascinated crowd watched in awe; Austin was especially shocked. The principal picked a large strawberry off the freshly grown shrub, and tasted it.

"It's so delicious!" Principal Skeeves exclaimed. "Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz are the winners!" He joyfully announced, as he handed two blue ribbons to them.

"YES! Team Starco for the win!" Star cheered. As applause roared through the gymnasium, Marco noticed something: Austin Capers was nowhere to be found...

At the end of the curb outside the schoolyard, Austin was sitting down and fidgeting with his rocket, feeling dejected. The boy felt it wasn't fair Star's project won, as it was magic, and not science. "Two weeks of work, all for nothing." Austin quavered, as he dropped his project on the ground and sighed deeply.

Austin heard the ringing of bells from inside the building; The school day was finally over. Star, Marco and Janna were walking out of the building, when Star noticed her new acquaintance glumly moping on the curb. "What's wrong with him?" Star asked.

"I don't know, but we should probably check on him..." Marco replied. The three students then made their way to console their melancholy colleague...


	3. Tacos for Four

Austin Capers sat down on the curb, reflecting on his rocket's failure to win the science fair's grand prize. He dropped his project on the ground, and started nudging it with his feet, as he let out a deep sigh. Suddenly, a voice from behind called out the young man's name: It was his good friend Marco, followed by Star and Janna.

Marco took a seat next to Austin, and saw him kicking around the rocket. "Hey bud, what's wrong?" Marco asked.

Austin sighed, still looking at his project. "It's nothing...I'm fine." He muttered.

"Is this 'cause you lost?" Janna bluntly inquired.

"Look, I'm fine, okay?" The science savant snapped. An awkward silence filled the group, and Austin quickly realized his mistaken harshness.

"Sorry. I...didn't mean to-" Austin profusely apologized, when Star interrupted him.

"It's fine!" She replied, unfazed by Austin's mini-outburst.

"It's just, I worked really hard on this rocket for WEEKS, but Star just used her magic, and won the grand prize! I mean, it's a science fair, not a magic fair!" Austin ranted.

"Hey, it's okay, I understand. I mean, if it happened to me I'd be pretty miffed, too." Marco explained, giving solace to his friend.

"Look, you won, and I'm not gonna take that from you. Who knows, maybe magic is just science we don't understand?" Austin wondered as he scratched his chin.

"If it means anything, I thought your project was really cool!" Star gushed.

A smile came across Austin's face, and he started feeling much better. "Thanks. I gotta say, Marco was right. You ARE pretty great." He replied. Star smiled and blushed. Austin picked up the rocket, and stood up tall. "Thanks, guys. I feel much better now." The young gadgeteer smiled.

Suddenly, the group saw something in the distance: A fancy blue car's engine revved and roared, as it drove up to the curb where the four congregated. The shiny doors of the high-tech vehicle opened up from the top, to reveal a tall, foreboding man. This man, of short black hair, a goatee of the same color, green eyes, and dark skin, wore a grey three-piece suit with a blue tie and black shoes. From the driver's seat, he called out to Austin.

"Son." The man spoke, from his rich, deep voice. This was no ordinary gentleman: He was Oberon Capers, a tech magnate from Los Angeles, and Austin's father.

"Hello, Father!" Austin called back.

"Where were you? You weren't waiting in the parking lot as I instructed." Oberon spoke starkly.

"Forgive me, Father. I was just...distraught." Austin sighed. Oberon looked at the other three kids, and stroked his chin.

"Who are these...children?" He asked. "Ah! Father, these are my new friends!" He exclaimed, smiling.

"I'm Star Butterfly, a magical princess from another dimension!" Star introduced herself. Oberon's brow furrowed when he saw the smiling princess.

"Yes, I've heard." Oberon muttered. Austin stepped forward and began to walk into the co-pilot seat of his father's custom car. Suddenly, Star had a great idea, and loudly called out to him. "WAIT!" Star exclaimed.

Austin turned back to face his magical new friend, and his father groaned impatiently. "Yes?" Austin replied.

"Do you wanna have dinner with us?" Star excitedly proposed.

"Dinner?" Austin asked, feeling a little unsure.

"Yeah, you, me, Marco, and Janna!" Star added. Marco was surprised at Star's enthusiasm for a sudden group dinner. Austin wasn't sure what to say, so Star elaborated. "Just meet us at Britta's Tacos at 5!" Star announced.

Austin was pleased by this proposal, and asked his father for permission. "Father, can I please go?" Austin pleaded.

"We'll see..." Oberon drawled. Austin waved goodbye to his friends as he entered the co-pilot's seat, and the two rode off out of the school grounds.

"Star, are you sure about this? It just seems a little...sudden!" Marco fretted.

"Don't worry, it'll be fun!" Star replied, as she jokingly nudged the safe kid. The three walked back into the building.

As the three walked back home, Janna discreetly asked Star about her true intentions for the taco run. "So, why are you really doing this?" Janna asked, feeling curious.

"This is gonna sound crazy, but I think Austin is MAROON!" Star replied giddily, as she hopped up excitedly.

"What makes you say that?" Janna replied, intrigued by her friend's theory.

"Think about it! He's obviously super smart, maybe he built the suit himself! Plus, that rocket he made was just like Maroon's little jet-thingies!" Star elaborated. "I was thinking maybe we could ask him a few questions, to see if it's really him?" The princess added once more.

"I like the way you think." Janna suavely remarked, as they continued walking through the neighborhood...

3 HOURS LATER - BRITTA'S TACOS, 5:00 PM

A few hours later at the taco stand, Star, Marco and Janna had all gotten their tacos ordered, and sat on a picnic table, awaiting their new friend's arrival. As Star poured a great heap of sugar on her taco, she asked Marco a question. "So, how did you meet Austin?" The princess questioned.

"Well, we met in my science class, just a few weeks ago. Turns out he moved in just after we beat Ludo and Toffee." Marco replied.

"When's he gonna get here, anyway?" Janna wondered. "He should be here very soon." Marco said with a smile.

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER...

Fifteen minutes had passed, and Austin had still not showed up. The dinner conversation started to grow stale with the tacos, and the girls were beginning to get tired of waiting.

"Where's Austin? He should be here by now!" Star exclaimed.

"Look, I'm sure he's just late. Don't lose hope, Star." Marco comforted her.

"Maybe he's busy with...you know." Janna mused as she winked at Star, referencing her theory. Star giggled, but Marco was confused.

"What? What is he doing?" Marco asked, realizing he was out of the loop.

"You'll find out soon enough." Star remarked.

"Hey, guys!" A voice called out. The three cocked their heads to see Austin walking towards the their table.

"Austin! Good to see you, I saved you a taco!" Marco greeted.

Austin took a seat next to Marco, and picked up his taco. "Sorry for being so late. I just had some work to do." He explained.

"I'm sure you did!" Star remarked, confusing the two boys.

"So, where are you from?" The princess asked. "I'm from Los Angeles, but my dad and I moved here after he left his job." Austin explained.

"Why'd he leave?" Janna queried.

"I don't know, he said he just wanted some peace and quiet for a while." Austin answered, as he adjusted his azure-colored jacket.

"So, your rocket thing was pretty cool. What other crazy stuff do you make?" Star asked, in an effort to get her theory confirmed.

"Well, I haven't made much yet. Just that rocket, a clock, and right now I'm trying to make a real, working lightsaber!" Austin mused. "Nothing like, a jetpack? Or a cool helmet?" Star inquired.

Austin became confused by the specifics of Star's question. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Star, why don't you tell him about yourself? About us?" Marco suddenly suggested.

Star agreed, and decided to tell Austin about how she came to Echo Creek and met Marco. For the next twenty minutes, Star talked on and on about her adventures with Marco, and Austin seemed to like it, when suddenly, the blue-painted muscle car of Oberon Capers rolled up to the taco stand.

The doors opened automatically, and Oberon called out to his son from the driver's seat. "Austin!" Oberon exclaimed. Austin cocked his head, to see his father in the car: The young man was surprised at how early he was. "You seem to be enjoying yourself." His father noted.

"Hi, Austin's dad!" Star called out, waving frantically. Oberon rolled his eyes and sighed, as he was put-off by the Mewman royal's bubbly attitude.

"It's time for you to go home." Oberon spoke staunchly.

"But father, it's not that late! It's only 5:15!" Austin protested.

"Say goodbye to your friends, Austin." The patriarch of the Capers mandated. Austin sighed in disappointment and turned to his friends.

"Goodbye, everyone. Thanks for having me!" Austin smiled, as he walked into the co-pilot seat of his father's car.

"Anytime!" Marco replied. The car doors closed shut with the flip of a switch, and the two Capers quickly drove away from the stand, and headed home.

"Well, that was fun." said Marco.

"Yeah, I just wish he could've stayed longer." Star replied, feeling bummed out that their group dinner got cut short.

"I don't know why, but his dad gives me the creeps." Janna added.

"Really?" Marco asked, surprised that someone could creep out Janna, of all people.

"Yeah, he just gives off...bad vibes." Janna replied.

"Well, we better get going." Star spoke. The three friends said their goodbyes, and parted ways to go home.

2 HOURS LATER - DIAZ HOUSEHOLD, 7:30 PM

Back at home, Star was sitting down on her bed, carefully reading her magic Book of Spells. This particular chapter she was reading was a new one to her; An ancient healing spell practiced by the Butterfly queens of ages gone past.

Suddenly, the princess's cell phone began to ring. She checked the Caller ID, to see that there was none presented. Still, she curiously answered the call. "Hello, Star Butterfly speaking!" Star answered.

"Star Butterfly." The voice repeated. This voice, one deep and bass with a metallic ring, was familiar to Star: It was none other than the masked vigilante Maroon!

"Maroon?" Star asked in surprise, as her eyes went wide.

"Last night I realized something; You showed me you have great combat experience, when we dealt those Cobalt Watch guys last night." Maroon explained.

"Yeah, kicking butt is just something I'm really good at." The princess boasted.

"I managed to locate Cobalt Watch's secret base. If my theory is correct, they could be planning something that threatens all of Echo Creek!" Maroon exclaimed.

"That's not good." Star commented.

"I'm going to break into their base to find out what they're planning. However, I can't do this alone. I need assistance on this special mission; I need...a partner." The vigilante implored.

Star grinned in excitement at the possibility of an exciting adventures with this mystifying character. "I'll do it!" Star exclaimed.

"Excellent! I'll meet you on the roof of your home in one hour. Maroon out." The hero responded, as he ended the call.

Star jumped up in excitement, anticipating her adventure with Maroon. Maybe when all was said and done, she'd get to see the face concealed beneath the mask. With an hour to spare, the Mewman royal began to prepare for the thrilling night that would soon come...


	4. Maroon and The Butterfly

t was 8:25 PM, and Star was sitting on the roof of the Diaz household, awaiting the arrival of Maroon. To pass the time, Star talked over the phone with Janna, venting her excitement to her friend. "I can't wait for Maroon to show up! This is gonna be AWESOME!" Star gushed.

"Lucky you get to see him. He's way harder to stalk than Marco." Janna remarked. At the mention of her best friend's name, Star started to feel a little sad.

"Speaking of Marco, he said he can't come with us." Star sighed.

"Why, it's not like he's got anything better to do." replied Janna.

"He said he was going to Austin's house to watch a movie." The princess replied. "Too bad he'll already be with me, kicking butts and having fun!" she beamed.

"You really think that's Austin under the mask?" Janna questioned.

"I mean, he's the most obvious choice! He's super smart, makes cool gadgets, and since he moved in, Maroon showed up." Star cited.

"Austin just doesn't seem like the type of guy to do all that superhero stuff." Janna refuted.

"It's gotta be him. You'll see." Star replied, when she heard the sound of little rockets taking off, and saw something flying towards her in the distance. She could see the cape waving in the air: It was Maroon!

"He's here! Call you back soon!" Star squealed as she hung up on her friend. Maroon descended upon the house, and shut off his thigh-mounted rocket boosters, quietly landing on the roof.

"Star Butterfly. Good to see you again." Maroon spoke from his bass, ringing voice that sent tingles down the princess's spine.

"I've found the place we must infiltrate for tonight's mission. Are you ready to go?" The vigilante asked.

"Just a second! I need to suit up!" Star exclaimed.

With this utterance, the Mewman princess did a spinning pirouette, and raised her wand up into the air. Sparkles and pink glowing light came out of the magical tool, and her outfit transformed: At the end of her transformation, she had changed into new attire more fitting for the situation: A pink, sleeveless, skin-tight onesie that covered her from shoulder to ankle.

This costume was adorned with accessories like gloves that covered her hands and forearms, shin-high boots and a sash wrapped around her waist, all colored magenta. She wore a pair of large, pink butterfly wings on her back, and a pink, butterfly wing-shaped mask covered her eyes. Her auric hair was done up in a braided ponytail, and her wand's appearance modified to become longer, like a bo-staff. Lastly, there were two symbols on her costume; A white butterfly on her chest, and a white star on the end of her waist-sash. This new superhero persona of hers was called...The Butterfly!

"So, how do I look?" She asked the fellow hero, whilst batting her eyelashes at him.

"You look...rather stunning, I must say." Maroon spoke. Star blushed and giggled.

"However, your choice of color...doesn't seem suitable for a stealth mission." The helmeted hero added.

"What's wrong with pink? I bet you'd look great in it!" Star joked.

"I'll pass." Maroon retorted.

"Now, our mission at hand is to infiltrate an abandoned facility that used to belong to Avidex Industries." Maroon instructed.

"Avi-what?" Star asked in confusion, scratching her head. Maroon sighed, and elaborated.

"Avidex Industries is an engineering company based in Los Angeles. Last night, that Soren Patel guy told us Cobalt Watch's base is in that abandoned building." Maroon explained.

"However, it's ten miles away. I don't suppose you have a way to get us there." The caped crusader continued.

"Actually, I do!" Star explained, as she pulled out her magical dimensional scissors; These magical blades could slice a hole between worlds, or simply get the user from Point A to Point B.

"Just let me look it up." Star said, as she pulled out her phone and looked up the abandoned facility. Once she saw a picture of the building, she took out her scissors and tore open a portal.

"C'mon, let's go!" Star piped as she jumped through the portal. Maroon shrugged, and followed her through...

On the other side of the portal, Star was standing on a forested ledge overseeing the facility. She looked down at the entrance, and saw it was guarded by two masked Cobalt Watch troopers.

"Look! More of those Corn-Cob Watch guys." Star pointed out.

"Good eye." Maroon added, as he looked around the defunct facility. Half a dozen black vans were parked outside, and they all looked just like the "Killer Van" that stalked Star the night before.

Suddenly, Star sighed, and started to frown. "Something the matter?" Her masked ally asked.

"I just wish Marco was here to help us. Ever since Toffee held him hostage and made me destroy my wand, he hasn't gone on any adventures with me." Star choked.

Maroon felt bad for the girl, and decided to console her. "Why not?" The red-clad vigilante inquired.

"I don't know...this isn't like him. I just hope he snaps out of it." The princess, now a fledgeling superheroine, sadly uttered.

"What a shame..." Maroon sighed.

But now was no time to mope or weep: The mission was still at hand. "We need to take out the guards to get in." Maroon instructed.

"Got it!" Star replied. She raised up her wand, and it started to glow. "WARNICORN STA-" Star yelled, when Maroon quickly put his hands over her mouth and dragged her to the ground. The guards looked out at where the sound came from, but luckily, the caped crusader blended in with the shadows enough to hide him and Star.

"Quiet! We could have been killed." Maroon snapped, as he took his hands off Star's mouth. "Sorry...you have any ideas?" The Mewman princess quavered.

"Follow me." The vigilante answered, as the two made their way around the side of the building.

After arriving at the building's side, Star wondered what was next in Maroon's plan. One of Maroon's mechanical bracelets rotated, revealing a wrist-mounted grappling hook. "Ooh, cool!" Star cheerfully cooed.

"Hold on tight." Maroon instructed. Star wrapped her arms around her masked ally, and he snapped his fingers, shooting his grappling claw at the top of the building. They were pulled up by his cord, and the two made it onto the facility's roof.

"Now what?" asked Star. Maroon started sneaking to the entrance, and gestured for the Butterfly to follow him. The two snuck to where the armed guards were, and Maroon signaled her by holding up five fingers: Then, he began counting down.

When he was out of fingers, the two heroes jumped down to the ground, behind each of the guards. Maroon took the one on the right, starting by disarming him of his weapon, then elbowing him in the gut and throwing him to the ground by his arms. Then, he snapped his fingers, firing a blast of red energy from his wrist blaster, which stunned his foe and rendered him incapacitated.

As for the guard on the left, Star took him out by striking him with her wand-staff multiple times, then freezing him solid with an ice spell. "He'll be okay." Star assured. Maroon rotated his black metal bracelets, and Star glanced at them, wondering what they were.

"Hey, what are those?" Star asked with a fascinated smile.

"These are my utility bracelets. They're where I keep my weapons and tools." Maroon explained, rotating the mechanical bracelets further. "I can simply activate them with the snap of my fingers." He continued, as he snapped the fingers of his right hand. Lo and behold, a collapsible metal blade measuring a foot in length jutted out from the bracelet, and an expression of wonder made its way across Star's face.

"That is SO COOL!" The Mewman exclaimed.

"Now let's go. Time to find out what these guys are up to." Maroon spoke, as the two quietly made their way into the abandoned Avidex facility.

The entrance, formerly a reception area, was barren and destitute of furniture. The only sight of interest either of them could see were the words "COBALT WATCH" painted where the Avidex logo once stood. The two continued sneaking around, when they got to a pair of locked metal doors.

Star tried opening them, but couldn't find a doorknob to use. "Where's the knob?" The princess asked.

Maroon saw that another Cobalt Watch henchman was coming, and he was carrying a pistol in a hip-mounted holster. "Hide!" He whispered, as he and Star both hid behind shelves of equipment.

Star peeked out and saw the man, who wore fingerless gloves on his hands, put his thumb in a scanner. This opened the door, and the henchman walked inside. The Mewman royal rushed to get in, but as soon as he left, the doors automatically closed shut with a clank!

"Woah, was that magic?" Star asked. "It's a fingerprint scanner. Must only work for those guys, though." replied Maroon. They heard footsteps, and a bearded man carrying a box of tools walked by, whistling. The two looked at each other, and got an idea.

Star blasted the man with magic, knocking him out cold, and he fell to the ground with a thud. Maroon checked his equipment, and saw no weapons. "He was unarmed, did you have to do that?" The crimson helmet-wearer asked out of concern.

"I'm sure he's okay." Star shrugged. The two heroes dragged his body to the door and placed his thumb on the scanner, opening the door.

The two wasted no time and entered the locked section, and what they saw shocked them: In a deep pit, dozens of men worked on a great metal ship: Some were builders or welders, like the unarmed man Star had knocked out. Some of them were scientists in white lab coats. However, a good amount of them were armed goons like the ones outside the building, keeping watch over the other workers.

Maroon grappled up to the ceiling and squatted on the rafters, and Star jumped up to do the same. "What are they doing?" Star asked.

"Building some sort of massive...ship? But why?" The helmeted vigilante wondered.

Standing on a balcony, the workers were being overseen by a somewhat overweight Hispanic scientist with black hair, a neatly trimmed goatee, and glasses. He wore a lab coat like all the rest, and a grey dress shirt with a blue tie underneath.

Suddenly, the door opened behind him, and in walked his superior; Commander Cobalt, the high-tech armor-clad head of the organization. The commander was flanked by two troopers holding rifles.

"Doctor Reyes." The armored warrior spoke in a sullen tone. Dr. Reyes jumped in surprise, and dropped his pen and clipboard.

"C-Commander Cobalt!" The doctor nervously stammered.

"How goes your research? I expect satisfying results." Cobalt inquired in his filtered, Vader-esque voice, which was very deep and reverbative.

"Commander, you must excuse us, but inter-dimensional travel is nearly impossible! It can't be mastered in weeks, let alone right now!" Doctor Reyes exclaimed.

Cobalt reached into his back holster, and whipped out one of his weapons: A high-tech blade crackling with blue electricity. He hovered it around Reyes's face, hair and neck, with the painful device being mere centimeters away from the doctor's skin.

"My patience is drawing thin, Reyes. I didn't hire one of the smartest astrophysicists in the country to give me excuses!" Cobalt snarled.

"Sir, you must give us more time, please!" Doctor Reyes pleaded in terror.

Cobalt moved his crackling sword away from Reyes's throat, and sheathed it back in its holster on his back. "You and your team have one week to make a supple discovery, or there WILL be consequences..."

Reyes shuddered in fear at the imposing warrior's threat, as Cobalt and his men walked off the deck and exited Reyes's workspace. From the rafters, Star and Maroon witnessed their whole conversation.

"He's gotta be their leader." Star whispered.

"I bet he is." Maroon replied.

Star was intrigued by Cobalt and Reyes' talk of crossing dimensions. "Inter-dimensional travel? How can that be hard, I do it all the time!" Star commented.

"For you, it's easy. For us Earthlings, not so much.." Her helmeted ally replied.

"We should get going, and figure out how to stop these guys." He continued.

"Got it." replied Star.

As the two snuck through the rafters, Star's dimensional scissors started to wiggle loose from their holster. As she weaved through the metal bars and poles, the scissors fell out from her person, and hit the roof of the ship-in-progress, causing a loud metal *CLANK!* to be heard. The shipwrights, scientists and guards all looked up to see Maroon and the Butterfly up where they shouldn't be. "Uh...hi?" Star awkwardly waved.

"OPEN FIRE!" One of the goons yelled. The angry henchmen fired at the rafters, while the nonviolent workers and scientists fled.

"SUPERSONIC LEECH BOMB!" Star screamed, and her want blasted a bunch of leeches at the goons, which exploded, knocking all the troopers around.

The twosome leaped from the rafters, and Star landed with a graceful three-point stance, while Maroon stayed in the air, thanks to his rocket-boosters. A couple of goons fired at him with pistols, so he fired back with his wrist blasters, hitting one of them.

He landed on the bridge where the second was, and took him down with a series of acrobatic punches and kicks. A third ran at him wielding a riot baton, but Maroon parried it with one of his wrist-blades.

From across the room, the offending goon was hit by a flying narwhal. Maroon looked back to see that the blast was from his princess partner. He nodded to her in thanks, and Star gave a "thumbs-up" sign in return.

Whilst Maroon was still busy, Star battled a trio of troopers, all wielding melee weapons. One was dual-wielding hatchets, while the others carried a monkey wrench and a riot baton.

The first goon threw a hatchet at her, but she dodged and took him out with a Mega Mushroom Destruction Blast, which knocked him into a wall and covered him in toadstools. The wrench-wielder was taken out with a well-placed blast of magic energy, and she dueled the last in a battle of wand-staff and riot baton. After an exchange of parries and blocks, she swept his legs with her staff, and smacked him over the head with her wand, cracking his helmet and knocking him out.

Star wandered into the interior of the partly built ship, and saw four more henchmen, who pointed their guns at her. "Can't we just be friends?" Star sincerely asked. "You're outnumbered, girlie! Drop the wand!" One of them yelled.

Suddenly, Maroon entered the fray with his grappling hook, and took one of the troopers out with a swinging kick. "Care to dance?" The hero asked, as Star began to grin.

The two heroes teamed up on the four hostiles. Maroon grabbed an enemy and held him out for Star to hit with a freezing spell. Star hit another foe with a Rainbow Fist Punch, and Maroon stunned him with a wrist-blast. Another pointed a gun at Maroon from behind him, but Star jumped over him and took the baddie out with a Narwhal Blast.

The last bad guy was standing quite far away, so an idea popped into Maroon's head. "Star, give me a boost!" He shouted. Star happily complied, and hit him with a magic spell that launched him towards the last henchman, which he took out with a flying kick! With all the goons defeated, Star called Maroon over to celebrate.

"We did it!" The princess happily cheered.

"We make a great team." Maroon replied, as the two shared a high-five.

"We better get out of here, now." Star replied. She reached for her dimensional scissors, when she realized to her horror that she left them on the roof of the ship.

"Oh NO!"

"What is it?" Maroon asked. "Uh...I think I lost the scissors." Star sighed. Maroon was about to respond, when suddenly, a man entered the ship from a bridge leading into it; It was Commander Cobalt!

The villain saw the two standing still in shock, and noticed the defeated henchmen of his, incapacitated and lying on the ground. "So, you two defeated my mercenaries?" Cobalt spoke.

"Yeah, and we can beat you, too!" Star taunted.

"Silence! I know who you are, Star Butterfly." Cobalt barked. This revelation of familiarity shook the princess to her core.

"You are an alien menace, and a threat to this dimension! Cobalt Watch will ensure Earth's protection, through your demise and your dimension's annihilation!" The blue-armored warrior shouted, as he drew two of his energy swords from his back, and ignited them.

Cobalt shouted and charged the two heroes, who both jumped out of the way. Maroon jumped up with his jets to get a good position, while Star fired out a spell, but Cobalt dodged her attack with a combat roll. He spun around and swung his energy blades at her, but she miraculously dodged out of the way, just as Maroon hit him in the back with a couple wrist blasts.

Unfortunately, these blasts seemed to simply bounce right off Cobalt's armor. The two heroes stood on either side of Cobalt, so he flipped the switches on his swords, making them go limp, but they still retained their deadly crackle; Now they were energy whips!

Cobalt viciously swung his crackling whips like a raging beast; Star ducked and jumped out of the way, but Maroon got hit and was knocked into a pile of crates.

"MAROON!" Star cried out in worry. She fired a beam of magic at Cobalt, but he blocked it with his armored forearm. He started menacingly walking towards her, still blocking her beam.

"End of the line, princess." Cobalt spoke in his frightening voice, when suddenly, a thick cable was wrapped around his torso: It was a whip-cord fired from the wrist of Maroon!

"Let's end this!" Maroon exclaimed. Star agreed, and the two repeatedly attacked him at the same time. With Star's magical powers plus Maroon's gadgets and martial arts skills, they were starting to get the upper hand on Cobalt. As Cobalt repeatedly was hit by punch and kick and spell, he knew he'd have to reposition.

The two heroes heard what sounded like a miniature airplane taking off, when Cobalt activated his back-mounted jetpack and flew up into the air! "HE CAN FLY?" Star yelped in shock. Cobalt reached down to his waist and pulled out two blaster pistols. The villain fired blasts of energy at Butterfly and Maroon, so they took evasive action. However, Star tripped up and fell to the ground, where she was vulnerable to Cobalt's attack.

"Now you will die, ALIEN!" Cobalt shouted, as he charged up his pistol, and fired at her.

"NO!" A voice suddenly shouted in terror. Maroon quickly used his jets to propel him to Star and blocked the shot; The blaster bolt had hit him in the back. The caped vigilante cried out in pain.

"MAROON!" Star screamed, as she flipped open the hero's cape and was mortified by the blaster wound that appeared on his lower back.

"How pathetic of him, risking his life for a pitiful insect." Cobalt taunted. Star was immensely angered by Cobalt's remark, and an expression of pure anger came across her face as she charged up her wand. "Now you will learn that your actions have consequences..." The villain snarled.

Cobalt was about to fire on her, when she blasted a pulse of magic so powerful it knocked Cobalt through the metal wall of the ship, and he fell down into the construction pit's depths.

With the armored enemy dealt with, Star diverted her full attention back to Maroon. "A-are you okay?" Star shakily asked.

Maroon let out a wet cough. "I...I'm fine." The hurt hero stammered.

"Let's get you out of here." Star sighed, as she carried her friend over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The princess jumped up to the roof of the ship, and retrieved her dimensional scissors.

Cobalt jet-packed back up to attack once more, but before he could fire upon his foes, Star cut open a portal, and the two ended up back on the ledge they were waiting on before.

Star gently set Maroon on the ground, and flipped his cape to see his wound: It was somewhat deep, but barely bleeding, as the blaster bolt cauterized most of the wound. Star thought of how she could help her ally's injury, and remembered the ancient healing spell she had read about earlier in the day. While she had never practiced it before, now seemed like the perfect time to give it a try.

Star dug deep, and held out her wand, desperately hoping that her magic would be enough to heal Maroon. She teared up as she attempted the spell, and her wand started to glow pink. Miraculously, Maroon's flesh started to heal under the light, and the skin started to regrow. Star's face lit up when she realized the spell was working, and when the wound finally healed to completion, Star excitedly wrapped her helmeted friend in a relieved hug.

After five or so seconds, Maroon asked to be released. "You can let go, now." Maroon commented, and Star complied.

"I'm just...so glad you're safe. You risked your life...to save me." Star declared, with a tear streaming down her cheek.

"Hey, it's what heroes do. Don't short-sell yourself, you saved me too. You're a hero, Butterfly." Maroon replied, making the princess smile and blush.

"So, we make a good team, then." Star noted. "We do. You're a great fighter and a greater partner. Marco's lucky to have you." Maroon replied, as his cape flowed lightly in the wind. Star realized the burning question she wanted to ask, so she took a deep breath and posed the question.

"Since we're partners now...I just want to know...who are you, under the helmet?" Star questioned.

Maroon sighed deeply. "I wish I could tell you. However, I have loved ones; Friends and family I can't afford to lose; If my identity was public, my enemies could kill them or use them as leverage!" Maroon explained, using the classic superhero defense. Star sighed in disappointment, but she understood his reasons for keeping his secret.

"One more thing." Star said, as she created a piece of parchment with her wand, and turned it into a magic pen. "Can you sign this? It's for my friend, Janna." She inquired.

"Sure thing, princess." Maroon replied, as he wrote the following message on his friend's parchment, accompanied by a doodle of his helmet.

Stay cool, Janna! - Maroon

"Well, that's enough excitement for tonight. See you real soon, Butterfly." Maroon remarked, as he started to head out.

"See you later, Oskar Greason!" Star exclaimed, causing Maroon to burst out into uproarious laughter. This was the first time she'd ever seen the vigilante laugh.

"OSKAR? You think I'm OSKAR? That's just rich!" Maroon chuckled, as he started to fly off with his jets.

Star waved to her partner in crime-fighting, and when he was gone, she tore open a portal with her scissors and went back home after their long, adventurous night...

Meanwhile, back at Cobalt Watch's secret base...

Commander Cobalt walked through the interior of the ship being built, analyzing the damage Star and Maroon inflicted on his project. Suddenly, Doctor Reyes walked inside, flanked by two armed Cobalt Watch guards. "Commander!" Reyes exclaimed in relief.

"YOU!" Cobalt shouted. Cobalt trotted towards the doctor, and wrapped his hands around the astrophysicist's throat. The doctor sputtered and gagged frantically, as he trembled in fear.

"You told me dimensional travel was nearly impossible. Why did I see a TEENAGE GIRL do it like it was NOTHING?" Cobalt yelled as he shoved Dr. Reyes, who fell over.

The guards flanking Cobalt pulled their guns on the doctor. "Shall we kill him, Boss?" one of the men asked.

Cobalt held out a hand and gestured them to hold their fire. "Not now, he may still prove of use to us." Cobalt replied, and the two mercenaries became at ease. The armored commander then instructed his subordinates in his new plan.

"We have a new plan: Get the girl's scissors at any cost necessary..."


	5. Mi Casa, Su Casa

Today was the day after Butterfly and Maroon's action-packed infiltration of Cobalt Watch's secret base, and it was far more peaceful. The weather was cool and fair, and today was Saturday, meaning no school!

On this fine weekend afternoon, Marco decided to treat Star to his famous home-made nachos. He carried the piping-hot dish full of delectable cheese and chips from the kitchen to the living room, where Star was still lounging around in her comfy blue nightgown. He set the platter down on the coffee table, and Star smiled in delight.

"Mmm, those look delicious!" The princess hungrily groaned as she licked her lips.

"They always are." Marco beamed, as he took a seat on the sofa, next to his friend.

Star ravenously dug into the nachos, and gobbled them all up in a matter of seconds. Marco just looked at her with an aghast expression.

"What? They're really good!" Star complimented.

"Yeah, I've just never seen you eat them that fast!" Marco exclaimed.

"Sorry, I had a heck of a crazy adventure last night." Star explained.

"Oh?" Marco asked in piqued interest. "Well, last night while you were watching movies with Austin, I went on an adventure with MAROON!" Star squealed.

"Wait, you mean the superhero, Maroon?" Marco queried.

Star regaled Marco with the riveting tale of Maroon and the Butterfly; How the two masked heroes snuck into the secret base of Cobalt Watch, battled the sinister Commander Cobalt, and how she saved the vigilante's life with a healing spell. "Wow...sounds like you had quite a night." Marco replied in awe.

"Yeah, I just wish you were there, too." Star replied with a saddened sigh.

"Well, Austin and I were watching Hold Your Horses! That's the funniest movie of the year!" Marco replied, referring to his movie viewing the night before.

Suddenly, an exciting idea popped into the Mewman royal's head; She had something special to show her best friend. "Hey...you wanna see my superhero costume?" Star asked, with a twinkle in her eye. Marco paused, and shrugged. "Sure, go ahead." He answered.

Star did a twirl and raised her wand, once again transforming her into her alter-ego, The Butterfly! Her body-hugging pink outfit, complete with the wings, mask, and everything, shimmered in the sunlight beaming through the windows. Marco's throat went dry and his eyes widened; The boy was awestruck at how charming and confident she looked in her hero's getup.

"Wow, Star. You look..." Marco stammered, when a feminine voice called out from behind him. "HOT?" The voice taunted. Marco jumped in surprise: Standing behind him was Janna, who had somehow gotten into the house.

"Janna! How long have you been here?" Marco complained. "Eh, long enough." The delinquent shrugged. "Lookin' good, Star." Janna complimented the Mewman's new outfit.

"Aw, thanks!" Star cooed. "Oh! I have something for you!" She continued. Star pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to Janna: It was the autograph Maroon had signed earlier!

"Woah, is this real? This is so cool, thanks!" Janna replied, pleased with her gift.

"Where'd you get that?" Marco inquired.

"Maroon signed it for me! We're pretty close, him and I..." Star replied with a grin.

"So, Austin invited us all to his house." Janna told the two youth residents of the house.

"Really?" Star piped in excitement.

"Yeah, he wants us to meet him there as soon as we can." Janna explained.

"That's weird, he didn't tell me about it." Marco said, feeling surprised and a little insulted.

The karate expert got up off the couch and started making his way upstairs. "Just give me a few minutes to get ready!" Marco called out as he went to tidy up.

Back in the living room, Star transformed her clothing into her usual attire; Her rainbow-colored tank top and green striped leggings, plus her horned headband and salmon-colored boots.

"Hey, you said you think Austin's Maroon, right?" Janna asked.

"Yeah?" Star answered.

"What if we do a little...snooping, just to see if you're right." Janna suggested with a devious grin.

"I dunno, Janna. Maroon told me he keeps his identity secret so his friends and family don't get hurt." Star explained.

"Hey, we won't tell anyone if we find out it's him. It'll just be our little secret." The troublemaker added.

With this statement, curiosity started to get the better half of the Mewman.

"Alright, sure, just don't tell anyone." Star commented, making a "zipped lips" gesture. Janna did the same in agreement.

Marco then came back down the stairs, having gotten himself cleaned up and ready for the day. "Alright, let's go!" He exclaimed.

SEVERAL MINUTES LATER...

The three friends were able to get to Austin's house rather quickly, as Marco told Star where it was, and she used her dimensional scissors to make a portal to his front yard. Austin's home was a rather large two-story mansion on the other side of Echo Creek, and quite a picturesque one at that. Star looked at the driveway, and noticed Oberon's souped-up muscle car in the driveway.

"Nice place!" Star chirped. Marco went up to the front door, with Star and Janna following behind. He rang the doorbell, and waited for about ten seconds, until Austin answered the door with an expression of surprise.

"Hey, guys! Uh...what are you doing here?" Austin asked, feeling a little confused.

"Uh, you invited us, silly!" Star retorted.

Austin scratched his chin. "I don't recall inviting you guys..." Austin answered awkwardly.

It didn't take long for Marco to put two and two together, and realize that they got set up, and he knew exactly who did it.

"Janna!" Marco groaned in exasperation.

"What?" The raven-haired delinquent. shrugged.

"He didn't really invite us, did he?" Marco asked rhetorically.

"Well..." Janna was about to make up an excuse, but Marco already knew the truth.

"Sorry about Janna, she can be a real troublemaker." Marco commented.

"Hey, it's fine." replied Austin.

"I guess we should get going now." Marco sighed, as he started to turn around.

"WAIT!" Austin suddenly exclaimed, stopping Marco in his tracks.

"I don't care if you weren't invited. You guys are really nice, and I always look forward to hanging out with you. Why don't you come in, I've got nothing better to do!" Austin cordially explained, as he held the door open for his Echo Creek friends.

"Thanks!" Star chirped, as the three teens entered the Capers household.

The foyer of Austin's house was painted chrysanthemum orange, with dark benches and an oaky hardwood floor decorating the place. "Welcome to my humble home." Austin boasted, gesturing to his home.

"Nice place." Janna remarked.

"Come follow me, and I'll take you to the rec room, where all my cool stuff is!" Austin said, as he began to guide them to the basement.

As Austin, Star, Marco and Janna walked through the living room to get to the basement door, a voice called out.

"What's all this?" exclaimed a man from the other side of the room. The four teens cocked their heads to see Austin's father Oberon standing approximately twelve feet away. Today, the 46-year-old man wore a light blue polo shirt and beige slacks.

"Father!" Austin blurted in surprise.

"You didn't tell me you were having friends over." Oberon muttered, as he crossed his arms.

"Sorry, dad. They kinda just...showed up." His son explained.

Oberon let out a deep sigh. "Look, I've got important work to do right now. Just tell your friends to behave, and don't get into any trouble." Oberon mandated, glancing at Star for a second, and diverting his eyes back to his son.

"Got it. Thanks, Dad!" Austin answered, as he guided his friends down to the basement. Oberon carefully watched them for a moment, and then left the room.

Janna turned to Star to make an offhand remark. "Cree-py... The raven-haired girl emphasized, as the fellowship of friends went down the stairs.

Austin led his friends down, where the recreation room was. This room, painted a light blue with a white carpeted floor, had many fun things inside, including a pinball machine, an air hockey table, a large flatscreen TV, a bunch of bean bags, and even a miniature basketball court!

"Wow, this place looks AWESOME!" Star beamed.

"What does your Dad DO to afford all this?" Janna queried.

"Well, he used to be the head of Engineering at this place called Avidex Industries." Austin informed.

Avidex...The name rang a bell in Star's mind. Avidex Industries was familiar to her, but how, she couldn't quite remember at the time. Still, Austin's mention of the company piqued her interest.

"Then he just...left. Said the stress was getting to him, and he wanted to move somewhere more...normal." Austin explained.

"Well, you sure picked the wrong place." Janna snickered; With Star around, Echo Creek was certainly a weird and wild place...

"Feel free to do anything you want. Mi casa, su casa!" Austin beamed, when he heard the sound of a basketball bouncing on the miniature court. He looked in that direction, to see Marco bouncing a basketball, with his red hoodie wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, Austin! Wanna play some one-on-one?" Marco offered. "Oh, you're ON, Diaz!" Austin laughed as he trotted up to the court.

As the boys were playing basketball, Star inquisitively tried playing the pinball machine. However, as this complicated type of machine was nowhere to be found on Mewni, she wasn't doing very good. She flicked the levers all she could, but still, the ball went back in the gutter without any scored points.

"Dang it!" Star barked as she hit the machine in anger. This caught the attention of Janna, who slyly approached the Mewman princess.

"The guys are distracted, now's the perfect chance to...you know..." Janna hinted.

"Oh, right!" Star discreetly replied, as the two girls quietly snuck upstairs to investigate the mystery of Maroon...

Star and Janna were sneaking around the house, when they came across the stairwell leading to the mansion's upper floor. Suddenly, Star had a realization: If she did find Maroon's gear in Austin's house, she wouldn't tell a soul. Janna, however...let's just say she isn't as tight-lipped when it comes to secrets.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we split up to cover more ground?" Star asked.

"Alright, sure. Bet I can find it first!" Janna retorted, as she headed off, away from the stairwell. Now that Star was alone, she went upstairs to see if her suspicions about Austin were true...

In the upstairs hallway, Star checked the first room she could find: She looked inside, to see a marbled faucet, a mirror, a shower and a toilet all in the same room; If it wasn't obvious from the description, this was a bathroom. Obviously, nothing of interest was here, so she closed the door.

Star checked the next door on the left: It was a large, teal-painted room with a queen-sized bed, oaken nightstands, a dresser to match them, and a flatscreen TV mounted to the wall. The bed was situated right next to a large window, with navy blue curtains.

"Must be Mr. Capers' room." The princess thought, as she closed the door and left it at that.

After checking Oberon's room, Star made her way over to the other side of the upstairs hallway, where she looked into a smaller room painted crimson, with a twin-sized bed, a neatly organized bookshelf, and a black desk with an desk lamp resting on it. Star deduced this bedroom must be Austin's.

She slowly crept into the room, and checked under the bed; Nothing.

Next, Star looked in the shelves of the desk, to find no evidence of an alter-ego. Lastly, she opened up the closet to find naught but clothes and other assorted items that had nothing to do with a heroic persona. Star sighed in disappointment, and left Austin's room.

At this point, Star felt like her theories of Maroon's identity were pure speculation, and only that. "Maybe Janna's having better luck." The Mewman princess thought to herself, when she noticed one last door at the end of the hallway. "Wouldn't hurt to take a look." She thought, as she slowly snuck through the door.

Back on the lower floor of the mansion, Janna was searching the house library, of all places. "C'mon, there's gotta be a secret door!" The delinquent said to herself, as she kept taking books out of the shelves, and threw them on the ground. Janna knew about all sorts of ways to hide a secret room, and the secret library door was her leading theory.

Janna kept taking out book after book, when she noticed a picture frame standing on the bookshelf. where one of the discarded books were. In the frame was a photograph of a beautiful African-American woman in her mid-thirties. Her hair was done up in a neat bun, and she was wearing a beautiful red dress.

"She must be Austin's mother..." The raven-haired girl thought to herself. She snatched the picture off the shelf, and saw that a blue button was sitting right behind it!

"Jackpot!" Janna exclaimed, as she reached up to press the button. The bookshelf, actually a door in disguise, opened up, revealing a dimly lit stairwell. "Cool." The girl remarked, as she walked down into the mysterious unknown...

Meanwhile upstairs, Star had just entered the dark room at the end of the upstairs hallway. She used her wand like a flashlight to find the light switch, and turned it on, illuminating the room.

What Star saw surprised her: It was a mid-sized room, with a large array of tools resting on a wall above a workbench. The princess lightly stepped over to the bench, and saw Austin's science fair project resting on it. A tank of fuel sat next to the bench. "Could this be it?" She thought, as she continued to search the room.

Star saw a locked metal chest in the corner of the room, and approached it. She held out her wand, and fired a light blast of magical energy, that popped the lock right off. The heart-cheeked princess took a deep breath, and opened up the chest. Star's jaw dropped when she saw what lay in that big metal box.

"NO WAY!" Star shouted in disbelief, as she jumped up in sheer surprise. In that box, was the suit and equipment of Maroon! Everything, from the helmet, to the cape, to the mechanical utility bracelets were all stored inside!

"I KNEW IT!" Star giddily exclaimed. Realizing how loud she was being, she immediately quieted down, and looked to make sure no one was there. The Mewman slowly reached into the chest, and took out the hero's red helmet that obscured his face.

Star put the helmet on her head, and its eyes lit up with a purple glow. "Rubber baby buggy bumpers!" She chanted, and her voice came out distorted, in a deep, filtered voice similar to Maroon's. "Woah, my voice sounds so cool!" The princess exclaimed. She then got up and started jumping around while pretending to be Maroon.

"Pew pew pew!" Star replicated the sound of Maroon's wrist-blasts, as she snapped her fingers. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming, began to panic. She frantically took off the helmet by pulling on the metallic "horns" on the sides, and the headgear expanded to free her head. She quickly threw it in the chest, and tore open a portal with her scissors to escape.

Back in the secret room beyond the library, Janna was exploring a mysterious, dimly lit hallway, checking for any signs of Maroon. She hadn't yet found anything of interest, until she found another door at the end of the hall. This time, it was guarded by a four-digit passcode. "Well, this looks a bit harder than sneaking into Marco's room, but I'll give it a shot." She said to herself, as she began to key in a passcode.

Janna keyed in the numbers 8-5-3-9, and the door let out a sharp beep. Incorrect passcode. The sneaky troublemaker let out a groan, and tried again, keying in 1-1-2-6. Another beep had sounded; Wrong again!

"Alright, third time's the charm." Janna remarked, as she went in for round three with the cryptic code.

For Janna's third crack at the code, she typed in was a zero, followed by two sixes and a seven. Suddenly, the door beeped in a harsher tone, and the blinding red lights of a siren went off, as an eerie alarm began to sound. Before Janna could even comprehend what was going on, a strange yellow gas spewed out from the door, and she breathed it in by mistake.

Janna started coughing, and knew that things were starting to go south. Terrified, she tried to flee, but started feeling lethargic and weak. Janna stumbled to the floor and tried her hardest to get up, but the gas's effect had already taken place. As the alarm system blared harshly, The raven-haired delinquent blacked out on the stone-cold ground...

In the rec room, Marco and Austin were in a heated game of air hockey, when Star came back into the room through a portal.

"Hey, guys!" Star called out with a smile.

Marco looked to see his best friend happily grinning, and while he was distracted, Austin scored the game-winning shot. "BOOYAH!" He shouted.

"Cheap shot, Capers!" Marco retorted.

"Where were you?" Marco asked.

"Oh, Janna and I were...hungry, so we went up to get a snack." Star explained, hiding the truth from the two boys.

"But you just had nachos." The suspicious safe kid commented.

"Well, I was still hungry. Hey, did Janna come back down yet?" She asked.

"Haven't seen her." Austin answered with a shrug.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a person started walking down the stairs. Star looked up to see if it was Janna, but she was wrong; It was Oberon!

"Mr. Capers!" Marco blurted.

"Sorry, but you kids have to leave. Family issues." Oberon spoke.

"What do you mean, Father?" Austin wondered.

"I'll tell you when we're alone." Oberon answered.

"Have you seen Janna anywhere?" Star asked, feeling concerned for her missing friend.

"The creepy girl with the hat? She already left." Oberon said in a dismissive tone.

It was typical of Janna to just come and go without a trace, like Batman if he was an occult-obsessed teenage girl. Still, something about her sudden leave just felt...off...

"Well, we better get going, Star." Marco sighed.

"Okay. Thanks for having us, Austin!" Star conferred, as she took out her dimensional scissors, and made a portal to take her and Marco home.

"Bye, guys." Austin said with a sigh. Oberon watched closely as Star and Marco walked into the portal, and after they went through, it disappeared.

"So, what did you want to tell me, Father?" Austin asked, as he looked up at his dad.

"I wanted to tell you...I have a new job." Oberon admitted.

"What? That's fantastic news!" Austin exclaimed.

Oberon sighed, and looked longingly at his son. "

The thing is, this job is going to take a lot of my time. This means I'm not going to be around a lot. I just want you to know that even though I won't see you as much...I still love you..." Oberon told his son.

"Dad..." was all Austin could muster at the time, so he gave his father a hug.

"Trust me son, this new job...It'll make a bright future...for both of us..." Oberon comforted his son. "See you soon, kid..." He remarked, as he walked upstairs, leaving Austin alone in the empty rec room...

SEVERAL HOURS LATER...

After being unconscious for several hours, Janna woke up in a compromising situation. She tried to get up, but found herself restrained in some sort of twisted interrogation chair. She looked around the room, when her eyes were caught by two masked men in tactical gear, standing guard.

"Look, she's waking up." One of the guards commented.

"Am I dreaming?" Janna muttered to herself.

"Quiet, girlie!" The other guard barked. Suddenly, Janna started to hear metal footsteps coming, getting closer and closer. When they got to their loudest, the door to the room opened, and an imposing, helmeted figure in blue metal armor walked in. It was Commander Cobalt!

"Commander!" The two guards addressed, as they saluted their superior.

"Leave us." The commander spoke, as he gestured the guards to exit the room.

Cobalt began to saunter towards Janna, who was still tied up in the interrogation chair. "Who are you, some kinda rejected Power Ranger?" Janna joked.

"Silence, girl!" Cobalt snapped, as he started pacing back and forth. "I have a few...questions to ask you." The armored warrior snarled.

"Oh, I've seen this before. Can you say something cool in your voice? How about "I'LL SHOW YOU THE DARK SIDE!" Janna kept taunting.

"What do you know about the alien menace named Star Butterfly?" Cobalt queried, crossing his arms. With his question, Janna immediately realized who the armored figure was.

"Wait, you're that Captain Cobalt guy!" Janna exclaimed.

"Just tell me what you know about, say...her powers?." Cobalt asked with a tinge of impatience.

"I mean, shouldn't you know? She kicked your butt!" Janna jeered.

Cobalt let out a furious yell, whipped out one of his energy blades, and ignited it. He swung it at Janna, causing her to flinch, and he stopped mere centimeters away from her face. The girl could hear the electrical crackling of the insidious weapon.

"Nice toy, Sparky." Janna taunted, although her tone was notably more nervous, this time.

"Tell me everything you know! Her friends, family, weaknesses, ANYTHING!" Cobalt yelled, on his last nerve.

"You trying to be scary?" You're less intimidating than Marco when I hypnotized him into thinking he was a puppy." Janna joked. However, her offhand remark sparked an idea in the sinister supervillain.

"Hypnosis, huh? Show me how." Cobalt commanded.

"Why should I? Janna scoffed.

"If you don't...the consequences will be quite severe..." The armored warrior hissed.

"What, you're gonna...feed me to the sharks? Throw me to the rabid bears? Cut me in half with a laser?" Janna kept ragging on Commander Cobalt, who decided he had enough of her taunting and teasing.

"On the contrary, my dear." He told her, as he turned away from the troublemaking girl. Cobalt raised his arms, and placed them on his helmet. It clicked, and let out a sharp hiss. The warrior removed his battle helmet, and placed it on a ledge.

He turned to face Janna, and her face went pale in shock, as an expression of sheer horror came across her face. The man beneath the helmet spoke his first words to her, in his unaltered voice;

"There are many things I can do...that are far worse than death..."

For once, Janna had absolutely nothing to say. She could only stare blankly in abject horror, not at the crazed supervillain in imposing armor, but the human being that lied beneath the monster's mask. Even for her, this situation was hellishly terrifying; She had no idea what the madman in charge of Cobalt Watch would do next; All she knew were his face, and his name:

_Oberon Capers... ___


	6. Clash of Heroes

_"I've heard so much about you, Janna Ordonia. How you're always sneaking around, sticking your nose in places you shouldn't. Look where that's got you now." ___

__Oberon Capers menacingly stared down the restrained Filipina as he paced back and forth._ _

__"What can I say, it's who I am." Janna replied nonchalantly, effectively masking her internal terror._ _

__"Explains why I never liked you. Honestly, I'm not too fond of any of Austin's new friends, especially that wretched Butterfly girl." Oberon sneered._ _

__"At least we actually care about Austin." Janna scorned. "What's he gonna think when he finds out you're a psychopath?"_ _

__"Listen, thief. All of this, I'm doing for Austin, and the entire planet! People like that reckless princess are a threat to our well-being! Look at all the damage caused by that winged wretch! Cobalt Watch will make sure that extradimensional threats are terminated, starting with her..." Oberon explained as he glared at his captive._ _

__"You're a monster!" Janna snapped._ _

__"False. I am the one who shall slay the monster." Oberon growled, as he loomed closer to the restrained girl._ _

__"Now tell me, Janna. How can one become hypnotized? Completely submissive to the will of a superior, so that they'll do anything their master asks, no matter how...unkindly." Oberon explained._ _

__"You won't get a word out of me." Janna retorted. Oberon scoffed in annoyance, when he realized a possible weak spot in Janna's defense._ _

__"What about that Marco boy? Do you have feelings for him?" Oberon inquired._ _

__"Wait, you think I like Marco?" Janna asked, as she began to crack up. "I mean, I like to tease him, but I don't actually like like him." Janna defended._ _

__"I see..." Oberon noted. "So, you wouldn't mind if I, perhaps...killed him?" The commander queried, causing Janna to go pale with shock._ _

__"Y-you leave Marco OUT OF THIS!" Janna yelled._ _

__"If you don't teach me the secrets of hypnosis, I'll kill him slowly, painfully, mercilessly...all while you're forced watch to every last second of it." Oberon snarled with hateful, sadistic vitriol, as he stroked Janna's cheek, and tauntingly wiped the tears from her eyes._ _

__Janna's heart felt like it was pumping out of her chest, yet as if it was sinking at the same time. She trembled in abject horror, and tears started to stream down her cheek._ _

__"ALRIGHT!" Janna screamed, just wanting her nightmare to be over. "I'll teach you how, if you don't hurt Marco!" Janna cried._ _

__A twisted smile came across Oberon's face. "Now was that so hard?" He asked in a malicious tone._ _

__Oberon reached over to the ledge where his imposing helmet stood, and put it back on his head. The door automatically opened, and three Cobalt Watch troopers were standing outside._ _

__"We have what we need. Take the girl to the brig and execute Phase Two." Cobalt ordered, as he walked out of the room._ _

__The door shut with a mechanical clang, and now, Janna was all alone. "I'm sorry, Star..." the girl quavered to herself, as she started to cry..._ _

__DIAZ HOUSEHOLD - 7:30 PM_ _

__Back home, Star was sitting on the couch watching TV, when her phone began to ring. She looked at the lack of Caller ID, and knew it must be Maroon. The princess picked up the phone in gleeful excitement._ _

__"Hello again, Star." Maroon spoke through the phone._ _

__"Hey, Maroon!" Star replied in a joyous tone._ _

__"It's time for our next mission. Meet me at the Echo Creek football field in one hour; Tonight, we take down Cobalt Watch for good." The vigilante explained._ _

__"Cool! See you there!" Star replied in excitement, as she hung up and went upstairs._ _

__Marco was in his room, sitting on his bed as he browsed through his phone, when suddenly, Star burst into his room. "Hey, Marco!" Star blurted._ _

__"Oh..hey, Star." Her best friend said with a sigh._ _

__"So, I'm going on a mission with that Maroon guy." Star told him._ _

__"Oh...well that's cool." The safe kid replied, seeming rather uninterested in her Maroon-related affairs._ _

__"I was thinking, do you wanna come with us? I feel like you two would get along great." Star offered, dropping a little hint about Maroon's true identity._ _

__"I don't know, it seems too dangerous for someone like me." Marco solemnly answered. Star groaned._ _

__"What's wrong, Marco? Ever since what happened with Toffee, you've never gone on adventures with me." Star worried._ _

__"I don't know, Maroon's just...better at that sort of thing. I'll only slow you guys down." Marco explained in a melancholy tone, as he got up off his bed, and started walking downstairs._ _

__"Marco, wait!" The royal called out, as she followed her friend down the stairs._ _

__"Where are you going?" Star asked in a concerned voice._ _

__Marco opened the front door, and looked back as star as he sighed longingly. "I'm just going for a walk. I need to...clear my mind." Marco faltered, as he walked out the door._ _

__"Just stay safe, Star." Marco spoke his parting words, and began walking down the street, as the sun began to set._ _

__"Marco!" Star called out, but her friend did not respond; He just kept walking, his destination unknown to her. Star let out a deep sigh, and went back inside. "What is wrong with him?" She thought to herself, as she slumped down on the couch..._ _

__30 MINUTES LATER..._ _

__As night fell on the town of Echo Creek, Maroon was out on the prowl. He had thirty minutes to spare before his rendezvous with Star, so he took the time to patrol the city for any small-time crimes to stop. Even though his primary mission was to stop Cobalt Watch, he still had a city to serve._ _

__The red and black-clad vigilante parkoured across the rooftops of buildings with great skill, and used his jet-boosters to hover the distances he couldn't jump. Citizens pointed and gawked at him, but he focused nonetheless. However, his attention was caught by the sound of terrified screams down the street. A convenience store just down the street was being attacked!_ _

__Maroon fired up his jets, and hovered to the scene. He saw several people being held hostage by three enemies; However, to his shock, they were no normal ruffians: These were Cobalt Watch troopers! One was holding a pistol, while the others wielded high-tech electro-batons. Maroon knew he had to stop the dangerous goons, so he landed down to the scene, and leapt inside the building._ _

__"Hold it right there!" Maroon barked as he primed his wrist-blasters. The three men looked to the hero, as the hostages shuddered in anticipation._ _

__"There he is!" The man with the gun shouted. He aimed his weapon, but Maroon stunned him with a sudden blast of red energy from his wrist._ _

__The other two men activated their stun-batons, and they snapped and rippled with electricity. The first swung with rage, but Maroon dodged, jumped up, and kicked him in the torso. The other trooper charged at him, but Maroon wrapped his whip-cord around him, and yanked the cord, sending him crashing into the other trooper. He shot them both with his wrist-blasters, which were luckily non-lethal._ _

__"That was too easy!" Maroon boasted, as he crossed his arms and looked down upon his defeated foes._ _

__"Indeed it was..." spoke a voice from the back of the store._ _

__Immediately, Maroon felt a sharp pain in the side of his torso. He looked to the pain's point of origin, and saw a dart stuck in his side. Before he could react, he passed out and fell to the ground with a clank._ _

__The dart that knocked him out came from one of the hostages, of all people! In fact, said "hostage" was none other than Doctor Reyes!_ _

__"The Commander will be most pleased with our work." Reyes said to the three troopers accompanying him, who all got up and dragged the vigilante into the back of a black van._ _

__Reyes entered the co-pilot's seat, as one of the troopers manned the vehicle, and the other two sat in the back. The van drove out of the convenience store and quickly sped off to the abandoned Avidex facility..._ _

__COBALT WATCH BASE - 7:45 PM_ _

__Commander Cobalt stood on a high-up balcony, overseeing progress on the giant ship being built in his sinister facility. Next to him was an engineer, giving an update on the project's progress to the armored villain._ _

__"All repulsor engines are installed and online. Project Dauntless should be ready by tonight, Commander." The engineer spoke._ _

__"Excellent! All we need are those scissors, and we will change the course of all humanity." Cobalt replied, when Dr. Reyes and his men approached him. Cobalt turned around, and was pleased to see an unconscious Maroon being held by the troopers._ _

__"Ah, Doctor Reyes! I see your men have captured the test subject." Cobalt spoke._ _

__"We did exactly as you asked, Commander." Reyes answered as he lowered his head in respect._ _

__"Take him to the interrogation chamber. The girl's arcane knowledge will pay off well." Cobalt ordered, and with his command, the troopers took the unconscious vigilante away..._ _

__In the interrogation chamber, Maroon was restrained in the chair, just as Janna had been before. Cobalt, Reyes, and the trio of troopers all stood above him, eyeing the intricacies of his suit._ _

__"Remove his helmet. I want to see the man behind that mask." Oberon snarled. One of the troopers turned back the horns, and removed the hero's helmet, to see his torpid face._ _

__Cobalt was intrigued by the person he saw under that red metal helmet. However, he only had a few words to say about it:_ _

__"How tragic..."_ _

__Cobalt left the unmasked Maroon and turned to his assistant. "Doctor Reyes, fire up the hypnosis screen." Cobalt ordered._ _

__Doctor Reyes walked out to the control room next to the interrogation chamber, with Cobalt and his troopers following him. The mechanical door leading out of the room shut and locked._ _

__The interrogation room darkened, and a projection screen lowered at the end of the room. Suddenly, Maroon regained consciousness._ _

__"W-where am I?" He stammered. Suddenly, a spinning pattern of black and white appeared on the screen, rapidly flashing, as a high-pitched whine rang through his ears. He tried to shut his eyes, but his eyelids were held wide open. "What is this?" Maroon yelled in confounded anger._ _

__As the screen continued to flash, Maroon started hearing strange, subliminal messages;_ _

__"Kill Star Butterfly!"_ _

__"Take her dimensional scissors, and bring them here!"_ _

__These phrases repeated over and over again, and Maroon tried rebuking them. "NO!" He screamed in terrified fury. The vigilante tried his hardest to resist, but after a mere twenty seconds of pained struggling, he had finally cracked..._ _

__Maroon passed out again, and the hypnosis screen shut off. Commander Cobalt walked back into the room, and undid Maroon's restraints; Then, he snapped his fingers._ _

__Maroon awoke silently, and turned to face Cobalt: His eyes glowed a ghostly white, and he began to speak._ _

__"Master...I will kill Star Butterfly, take her dimensional scissors, and return them to you." Maroon droned in a voice completely devoid of emotion._ _

__"Excellent." Cobalt spoke, as he handed Maroon his helmet; The vigilante, now a pawn under Cobalt's control, re-donned his face-concealing headgear._ _

__"That intrusive alien won't know what hit her..." Cobalt slyly snarled, as the brainwashed Maroon walked out of the room, on his way to complete the sinister mission..._ _

__ECHO CREEK ACADEMY FOOTBALL FIELD - 8:00 PM_ _

__The football field of ECA was completely empty: Today was a weekend night, so logically, no one should be there; No one but Star Butterfly, who was in her pink Butterfly getup, waiting at the end-zone for her partner to arrive._ _

__She sat down on the turf and reflected, as Marco's strange reluctance towards adventure was still on her mind._ _

__"Why is he acting so strange?" She thought to herself. She just hoped Maroon would come soon, as the action of taking down Cobalt Watch would certainly take her mind off things._ _

__TEN MINUTES LATER..._ _

__Ten minutes had passed without any sign of Maroon's arrival. Star was pacing back and forth over and over, bored out of her mind._ _

__"He wasn't late the last time." She thought to herself, when suddenly, she heard the familiar sound of Maroon's jet-boosters. She looked out to the other end of the field, and saw Maroon flying towards her. The masked vigilante landed on top of a stadium light._ _

__"Maroon!" Star exclaimed in excitement, as she waved to her hero friend; However, he did not react in the slightest, making Star start to think something was off._ _

__"Uh...Maroon?" The royal princess called out in concern as she started slowly walking towards the stadium light her friend was perched on._ _

__The utility bracelet of Maroon's right arm rotated, and he selected his blaster. "You okay, buddy?" Star queried, a concerned expression draped across her face._ _

__Maroon aimed his wrist at the princess-turned-superheroine, snapped his fingers, and fired an energy blast, which hit Star in the abdomen and stunned her. Her body convulsed in pain, and she fell to the ground._ _

__Star was immediately overcome with shock and terror at how quickly Maroon had seemed to turn from good to evil. The caped warrior expanded one of his wrist-blades, and leaped off the goalpost with the intent to impale his former ally._ _

__Star gained control of her body and rolled away at the last second, and Maroon mistakenly plunged his blade into the ground._ _

__Star was terrified. How had her new friend whose very life she saved last night become so merciless?_ _

__As she got up and started to back away from Maroon, he yanked his wrist free from the ground, snapped his fingers, and the second blade came out as well. Maroon lunged at Star with his blades, but out of self-defense, she knocked him away with a powerful blast of magic._ _

__"What happened to you?" Star cried out in anguish. Maroon said nothing; He only got back up, and continued to attack. He swung his blades at the princess, but she blocked each of his strikes with her wand-staff, and swept his legs with it, knocking him down. "Why are you doing this?" She pleaded._ _

__Maroon snapped his fingers, and his whip-cord shot out and wrapped around Star's torso, binding her arms. He activated his jet-boosters and flew up in the air while dragging Star across the turf of the field._ _

__Star used all the strength she could muster to break the whip-cord, and once she escaped, she ran for her wand, which lay on the ground ten feet away._ _

__While still hovering in the air, Maroon fired two wrist-blasts at her, but she dodged both of them, and grabbed her wand. Before Maroon could fire another, she shouted "RAINBOW FIST BLAST!" and a rainbow-colored fist of light hit one of his jet-boosters, causing it to break._ _

__Maroon crashed into the ground as a result of his jets malfunctioning. "Please, stop! I don't want to hurt you!" Star cried._ _

__Although he was now grounded, the rogue vigilante still continued to attack with determination. Star fired a Narwhal Blast at him, but he jumped over the narwhal, did a flip, and snapped his fingers, launching and detonating two smoke bombs, creating a smokescreen._ _

__Star coughed as she inhaled the smoke. "Super Sugar Wind-Storm!" Star exclaimed as she coughed, summoning a gale of sweet-smelling wind to dispel the smoke._ _

__As the smoke petered out, Maroon ambushed her from the side and kicked her in the torso. He followed up by attempting to go for her throat with his wrist-blade, but she parried the blow with her staff and blasted him away with a pulse of magic energy._ _

__Maroon aimed his left wrist-blaster at the princess, but before he could snap his fingers, she fired a ray of blue light from her wand, which broke the mechanical bracelet into pieces._ _

__"You're better than this, Maroon! We're partners? Don't you remember me?" Star pleaded tearfully._ _

__Unphased by Star's plea, Maroon snapped his fingers, drawing his wrist-blade._ _

__"Snap out of it, Austin!" Star yelled, trying to get her friend to fight his brainwashing. Sadly, not even the mention of his real name stopped the maddened Maroon. He charged towards her with intent to kill, and Star realized what she had to do..._ _

__Maroon leapt at her and thrusted his blade, but the princess dodged, and pushed him away with her staff. Maroon struck her with his elbow, knocking her off her balance._ _

__The brainwashed vigilante then raised his bladed arm to cut her down; To save her own life, Star wound up and swung the head of her wand as hard as she could into Maroon's cranium, knocking him back ten feet. Maroon crashed to the ground, as Star desperately hoped that did something to stop him._ _

__Star waited anxiously, but this time, Maroon did not get up. As she realized what she did, she rushed to Maroon's body in horror. "AUSTIN!" She cried, as she ran over to the unconscious vigilante._ _

__A crack ran all the way down Maroon's helmet, branching off in some directions; When she struck him with her wand, she struck hard._ _

__"Austin, speak to me!" Star pleaded as tears streamed down her cheeks. She slapped his chest in an effort to wake him up, but her friend was still unresponsive. Star took a deep, labored breath, and began to take off her friend's broken helmet._ _

__Star turned the horns to the side, and the helm let out a sharp hiss as it clicked. As she slowly pulled it off, she saw the bruised and battered face of Maroon, causing the princess to gasp, feeling a shock unlike any she had ever felt; All poor Star could do was call out his name in horrified anguish:_ _

__"MARCO?"_ _


	7. Truth and Origins

_"MARCO?" ___

__Star was in complete and total shock. All this time, she thought the true identity of Maroon was Austin Capers, as opposed to her best friend, a self-proclaimed "safe kid." Why on Earth would he keep such an important secret from her?_ _

__"Marco, wake up!"_ _

__Star pleaded for her friend to awaken from his comatose state, as tears streamed down her heart-marked cheeks. The poor young man's faced was bruised and red from his fight with Star, which was a result of Cobalt's malicious brainwashing tactics. His helmet was set on the ground next to him, with a large crack running down the face._ _

__"Come ON!"_ _

__Star slapped Marco's face in an effort to snap him out of his unconsciousness, but the boy was still unresponsive. Feeling hopeless, Star broke down and collapsed onto her beloved friend's torpid body, as she began to weep in pained, hopeless sorrow._ _

__Suddenly, Star felt the lightest twitch of movement from her downed friend. When she heard a faint, weak groan emanate from his vocal chords, a great surge of relief and joy ran through her._ _

__"Marco!" Star squealed as she hugged him ever so tightly, and rested her head next to his. As she began to cry tears of joy, Marco was dazed and confounded at his sudden awakening._ _

__"Ow, my head.." Marco weakly moaned, as he felt his entire body ache. Star helped Marco up, and the two sat upright on the ground together._ _

__"Star? What...happened?" Marco asked as he rubbed his forehead, trying to ease the pain._ _

__"Marco, you were...under some kind of spell. You..." Star started explaining what happened, when she started to falter, unsure of how to break the terrible news to her bewildered best friend._ _

__"I...what?" Marco asked, waiting for her to finish her sentence._ _

__"You...you tried to kill me!" Star cried out in anguish._ _

__Marco felt a great wave of shock and horror fall upon him. He realized why he was feeling so hurt, why his jets and left bracelet were missing, and the memories of his hypnosis in the Cobalt Watch base flashed in his mind like a nightmare._ _

__As Marco began to sweat profusely, his heart sank, and he started hyperventilating. The horrified, panicking young man turned his head, and saw the his cracked battle helmet._ _

__"Marco?" Star queried in concern, when he got up from the turf and picked up his helmet._ _

__As he looked upon the damaged piece of headgear, intense feelings of anger, hatred and regret coalesced through his body and mind. In a fit of rage, he slammed it into a metal pole as hard as he could, severely denting its front and breaking the eyepieces._ _

__Marco repeatedly smashed the helmet into the metal pole, until Star embraced him from behind to ease her friend's tension._ _

__"Calm down, Marco!" Star pleaded. Marco then let go of his mask, which there wasn't much left of after he smashed it to hell._ _

__Marco dropped to his knees, as Star sat down with him. "This is my fault!" Marco quaked, as he started to tear up._ _

__"No it isn't!" Star replied, trying to comfort him._ _

__"I could have killed you, Star. All because I thought I was a hero." Marco sighed, as he got up to his feet._ _

__"First you broke your wand, and now you almost died, all because of me. I'm a disappointment, and that's all I'll ever be..." Marco uttered, as he started to walk away._ _

__Star quickly got up and pleaded for her disheartened friend to stay. "Marco, wait!" Star called out._ _

__Marco continued walking off in a sulk, when all of a sudden, the two heard the loud noise of what sounded like a jet plane up in the sky. Flying towards them on his jetpack was the villainous mastermind, Commander Cobalt!_ _

__As Cobalt landed on the turf of the field, Star held out her wand in defense, and Marco got into a fighting stance. Cobalt glanced down and noticed Star's dimensional scissors hanging from the sash tied around her waist._ _

__"Looks like you failed your mission, Maroon." Commander Cobalt scoffed._ _

__The villain's scathing remark angered Marco, who aimed his wrist-blaster at Cobalt's face. "You did this to me!" Marco snapped, feeling vitriolic hatred towards his foe._ _

__"Ironic seeing you here, Butterfly. Just a few weeks ago, you turned this place into an explosive alien warzone." The commander recounted, as Star began to seethe with rage._ _

__"Give me one reason why I shouldn't Narwhal Blast you right now!" Star threatened._ _

__"Such hostility! I wouldn't be so rash." The armored commander remarked. Cobalt reached into a compartment in his armor, and pulled out a mechanical disk, which displayed a holographic video; It was a live feed of Janna in her containment cell, with armed troopers guarding it._ _

__"Janna!" Star and Marco exclaimed in unison._ _

__"You're going to PAY!" Star yelled as she charged up her wand and aimed it right at the commander's chest._ _

__"Not so fast! If either of you make any wrong moves, I'll order my men to kill your friend." Cobalt explained. Star lowered her wand, and Marco eased his stance._ _

__"I'll only say this once. Hand over your scissors, or else Janna's blood will be on your hands." Cobalt threatened._ _

__Star took a deep breath, and reached for her dimensional scissors. As Marco watched frozen in shock, Star shakily handed the tools of travel to her enemy, in order to spare the life of her friend. Cobalt quickly snatched them, and placed them in a compartment in his armor._ _

__"There, now let Janna go and leave us alone!" Star snapped._ _

__"You seem to have misunderstood me." The madman in blue clarified. "I only said I wouldn't kill her. I never said I'd let her go, or let you live." He hissed, as he pulled out an energy rifle and aimed it at Star, who froze in fear. "Now to tie up a few loose ends." Cobalt remarked, as he placed his finger on the trigger._ _

__Suddenly, the villainous warrior was hit in the back with a red energy blast, stunning him. As he fell to his knees, Star and Marco saw the person responsible for the shot; It was Austin Capers, who was wearing a utility bracelet!_ _

__"Austin?" Star questioned, feeling surprised. The young inventor only had one thing to say to his friends in return, which he shouted at the top of his lungs;_ _

__"RUN!"_ _

__The two partners took Austin's advice, and sprinted out of the field in an effort to escape. However, a quick getaway would be impossible without Star's trusty dimensional scissors. As Star and Marco sprinted off, Austin stumbled to the ground and shuddered in fear as Cobalt began to get back up._ _

__Commander Cobalt turned around to see the trembling Austin, and gasped._ _

__"Don't hurt me!" The frightened boy pleaded._ _

__Cobalt's faceplate retracted from the helmet, revealing Oberon's face to his horrified son. "DAD?" Austin yelped in shock._ _

__"This doesn't concern you, boy." Oberon coldly snarled, as his faceplate came back up, and his jetpack ignited, propelling him up into the sky._ _

__As Austin watched his father, now revealed to him as a cold-blooded supervillain, fly after his friends, all he could muster to ask was;_ _

__"Why?"_ _

__As Star and Marco fled through the city streets, Cobalt began to chase them through the sky, firing his energy rifle at them. Luckily, neither of them had been hit so far._ _

__"YOU DON'T BELONG HERE, BUTTERFLY! YOU NEVER DID!" The villain bellowed in his booming voice, terrifying the twosome he was tailing. The teen heroes ran into an alley, and hid behind the side of a dumpster._ _

__From his aerial viewpoint, Cobalt saw the two hiding together, and landed in the alley with a thunderous clank, as his metal boots hit the ground. Marco began to shiver in terror, knowing that the villain was out to kill not only him, but Star as well..._ _

__Commander Cobalt slowly crept up to the dumpster, terror and tension rising with each imposing step he made. As the sinister warrior came closer and closer, Star knew she had to act now; It was life or death._ _

__Cobalt peered around the corner of the dumpster, to see what but Star's wand charging up only a foot away from his face. Suddenly, he was hit right in the head point-blank with a Rainbow Fist Blast, knocking him ten feet away and breaking his helmet. As Cobalt's armor scraped the concrete ground, Star and Marco quickly fled into a nearby warehouse._ _

__Cobalt slowly got back up, and removed his damaged helmet. He looked all around him, but couldn't see either of his enemies._ _

__"Why waste my time on them? I have a war to start." Cobalt remarked to himself, as he pulled out Star's dimensional scissors and tore a portal leading to the Cobalt Watch base. The commander walked into the portal, which closed itself as soon as he went through..._ _

__LATER, IN THE WAREHOUSE..._ _

__Star and Marco were hiding out in an empty warehouse together. The building's interior was dark, drab, and decrepit, certainly not the liveliest of places. Star slowly peered out of the window, watching Cobalt use the scissors to make his escape._ _

__"Oh no..." Star sighed, distraught that one of her most prized possessions was now in the hands of evil._ _

__"This is a nightmare..." Marco muttered, feeling overall horrible due to everything that had unfolded. He kept his distance from Star, still paranoid that he was under Cobalt Watch's control._ _

__"He got away...and he has my scissors!" Star exclaimed anxiously, her panicked tone making Marco feel even sadder._ _

__The Latino was unsure how to respond; He too was feeling defeated after their dangerous encounter. He just stared at the ground, Star let out a pained sigh, and turned to Marco to ask him a question._ _

__"Marco...why didn't you tell me?"_ _

__Marco sighed, and decided that since his secret's out, he'd tell Star why he kept the secret of Maroon from her._ _

__"Well...after you saved me from Toffee, I started to have these...doubts." The teen explained. "I felt worthless, like I was a failure. You broke your own wand because I was weak enough to be kidnapped." Marco croaked._ _

__"This isn't your fault, Marco!" Star refuted, when she had a sudden realization._ _

__"Is...is that why you won't go on adventures with me anymore?" The princess queried, feeling terrible for her friend._ _

__"If I did, I'd just make everything worse." Marco muttered in a melancholy tone of voice._ _

__"That's not true! You make my life so much better." Star complimented, causing Marco to blush and crack a slight smile._ _

__"Thanks, Star. That means a lot." The safe kid replied._ _

__"So, how did you become Maroon?" Star questioned._ _

__"Well...it started the day after the Toffee incident." Marco began to regale Star with the story of how Maroon came to be..._ _

__TWO WEEKS AGO..._ _

__It was a cool, brisk evening in the city of Echo Creek. A young man of dark skin and black buzzed hair walked down the street, holding a cone of chocolate ice cream, which he had just purchased from a nearby stand._ _

__The lad looked at his surroundings inquisitively; Obviously, he was not a resident of the town. Suddenly, as he walked down an alley, he was confronted by two thuggish teens: One was tall and lanky, the other short and stout. Neither of these particular fellows looked very friendly._ _

__"Well, well. What do we have here?" The lean punk sneered._ _

__"Fresh meat." The stout punk answered._ _

__The boy they were confronting froze up in fear. "I don't want any trouble." He choked._ _

__"Give us your wallet!" The lean man hissed. The teenage boy began to shiver in terror, and made no moves. The stout man trudged towards him, and pushed him over, causing him to drop his ice cream on his chest._ _

__"GIVE IT UP!" The stout fiend shouted, when suddenly, an angered voice called out._ _

__"Let him go!" The voice was none other than Marco Diaz, who stood at the other end of the alley. The two punks turned around and glared at Diaz, leaving the other boy on the ground._ _

__"Hit the road!" The stout punk snapped._ _

__"I said, let him GO!" Marco ordered._ _

__"What are you gonna do, shrimpy!" The lean punk taunted, when Marco jumped up and kicked him in the gut, knocking the lout to the ground._ _

__The stout punk growled and charged at Marco, but the red belt took him down with a chop to the shoulder, a strike to the face and a sweep to the legs, taking him down. The boy on the ground was in awe at the skill and prowess of Marco's combat style._ _

__As the thugs got up, Marco put his hands on his hips and stared them down._ _

__"Ready for seconds, or are you boys full?" He taunted, as the thugs looked at each other and fearfully fled with their tails betwixt their legs. With the ruffians gone, Marco walked over to the boy and helped him up._ _

__"Thanks, man!" The boy thankfully exclaimed._ _

__"No problem, uh..." Marco replied, when he realized he didn't know the kid's name. "Austin Capers." He answered._ _

__"Marco Diaz." The karate expert replied, as the two shook hands._ _

__"Well, I better get going. See you around, dude!" Marco replied as he began to leave. Austin then realized something; Marco would be perfect for an important project he was working on._ _

__"Hey, wait!" Austin called out. Marco turned around, and Austin trotted towards him. "I know we just met, but would you want to...maybe...hang out sometime?" Austin inquired._ _

__Marco stopped to think, and realized he had nothing better to do. "Sure." Marco shrugged._ _

__"Cool, see you tomorrow!" Austin exclaimed, as he began to walk home..._ _

__THE NEXT DAY..._ _

__Marco walked up to the Capers household for the first time, and was taken aback by how large and roomy it was. The safe kid crept up to the door, and rang the doorbell. He could hear footsteps approaching, and the door was opened by none other than Oberon Capers!_ _

__"Can I help you?" Oberon inquired, looking down at the teen._ _

__"Is Austin home? He told me to come here." Marco replied._ _

__"AUSTIN! Someone's here to see you!" Oberon called out. Austin quickly trotted down the stairs to greet his new friend._ _

__"Marco, good to see you!" Austin greeted with a smile._ _

__"You too." Marco replied as he entered the house. "So, what do you want to do?" The green belt asked._ _

__"Follow me upstairs, I've got something to show you." Austin answered, as the two went up the stairs, and entered Austin's workshop._ _

__"What is this place?" Marco asked, feeling a little weirded out by the strange setting._ _

__"Ah, this is my workshop." Austin explained, as he walked over to a curtain, and pulled it, revealing his greatest work; The Maroon suit!_ _

__"This is my latest project." The young inventor presented._ _

__"Woah, what is that?" Marco asked, feeling quite intrigued._ _

__"This is the mantle of Maroon; A suit I made to fight evil and save lives. Once I learned of all those monster attacks in this town, I knew someone had to keep this place safe." Austin explained._ _

__"Wait, you're a superhero? That is so cool!" Marco exclaimed. However, Austin's expression was unfazed._ _

__"Technically not. You see, while I built the suit, I haven't ever actually wore it. That's what I invited you for." Austin elucidated._ _

__"Wait, what?" Marco questioned, out of surprise._ _

__"Last night, you saved me with your exceptional karate skills. On that night, I learned you're a much better fit for Maroon." Austin offered._ _

__"So, let me get this straight; You want me to be a superhero?" Marco asked, feeling a little overwhelmed._ _

__"You're already a hero, Marco. Now you can be super." Austin continued._ _

__Marco thought long and hard; Should he risk his life fighting evil in a metal mask? The boy realized he already fought hordes of vile monsters with Star, and that was without a fancy suit equipped with nifty gadgets. Besides, this could be his second chance; Marco may be too weak to help Star, but Maroon was certainly strong enough._ _

__"I'll do it." Marco agreed, ready to start a new double-life._ _

__"Hooray!" Austin excitedly cheered as he gave Marco a high-five. "Now try on the suit; If my calculations are correct, it should fit perfectly!" Austin explained._ _

__With the two reaching an agreement to be partners in fighting crime, Maroon was born as the protector of Echo Creek..._ _

__BACK IN THE PRESENT..._ _

__Marco had just finished explaining to Star how he became the mysterious Maroon._ _

__"And when I put on that mask...I felt powerful. Being Maroon was like a second chance, so I could be the hero you and everyone in this town deserves. Looks like I was wrong; I just made everything worse..." Marco sighed, still feeling regret for what he unknowingly did to Star._ _

__"It's okay, Marco." Star answered. "Stop beating yourself up; I don't care that I broke my wand. I don't care that I had to fight you." She explained, as she leaned in and gave her best friend a comforting hug._ _

__"I'm just glad you're safe..." The girl whispered, as she rested her head up against Marco's shoulder, tickling his chin with her soft, auric hair._ _

__Marco started to crack faint a smile; He was certainly feeling better now. "Thanks, Star." He appreciatively replied._ _

__"You're welcome, Maroon." The princess replied._ _

__"Now, how are we gonna stop Cobalt? We can't sneak into his base without my scissors." Star noted._ _

__Marco started thinking of ideas to get them back, when he realized a possible ally who could help them on their mission: With this realization, Marco spoke up._ _

__"I know a guy..."_ _


	8. Heir to the Helmet

In the secluded fortress of Cobalt Watch, the portly, goateed astrophysicist known as Doctor Reyes watched over the construction of Project Dauntless, the sinister organization's magnum opus.

As he oversaw the finishing touches to the high-tech warship, a portal opened behind him, startling the scientist. Out of the portal walked Reyes' superior, Commander Cobalt!

Reyes became quite off-put when he noticed his commander's damaged helmet, which was held in his left hand. "Commander! What happened to your helmet?" Dr. Reyes inquired.

"It's nothing. I've got what I came for." Oberon explained, as he held out his dimensional scissors, surprising the doctor.

"I can't believe it! is this-" Reyes clucked, when Cobalt cut him off.

"An interdimensional travel device." Cobalt spoke, effectively finishing the scientist's sentence.

"So much power, in such a small tool!" Reyes gushed, fascinated by the intricacies of the dimensional scissors.

"Indeed. This device is so simple to use...that it makes your presence obsolete." Cobalt jeered in a cold tone, angering the doctor.

"Excuse me?" Reyes snapped in return. "You hired I, Alexander Reyes, a renowned astrophysicist, just to throw me away after stealing some teenager's plaything?" He continued ranting.

Insulted, Oberon snapped his fingers, and two Cobalt Watch troopers pointed their rifles at Reyes, who then adopted a more subdued attitude.

"You're a liability, doctor. These scissors have done more in two days than you did in six months. Now, leave this place quietly, or face dire consequences." Oberon rebuked.

Dr. Reyes sighed, and shamefully walked out the door, with two armed troopers following him to make sure he didn't pull any sudden moves. "Good riddance." The commander snarled under his breath, as he walked down to the ship to complete the last modification before its maiden voyage...

MEANWHILE...

In his now dark and empty abode, Austin lay down on the living room couch, his mind swarming with worry and fear. Just recently, he had discovered an unfortunate truth; Under that broken battle helmet, the ruthless Commander Cobalt was his beloved father!

"Why would Dad do this?" Austin thought to himself. As the boy began to worry even more, he was suddenly startled when the doorbell rang. As this was a troubling time for young Capers, he decided to leave the door unanswered.

As he buried his face into the cushions of the couch, he could hear the doorbell ringing over and over again; Someone was rapidly pressing the button; They were desperate.

Austin sighed, pulled his face out of the cushions, and went to the foyer to open the door and dismiss his potential guests. When he opened the door, he was in for a surprise; At his front door was none other than Star and Marco!

"Star! Marco! You're ALIVE!" Austin exclaimed, relieved that his friends were safe from his father's wrath.

"Austin, we need your help." Marco uttered.

"Those Corn-cob Watch guys stole my dimensional scissors. Whatever they're using them for, it isn't good!" Star added.

Austin just closed his eyes and sighed. "Guys, I wish I could help you, but...I'm just not...how you say...in the right state of mind." He explained in a melancholy voice.

"Why not?" Star inquired.

Austin felt pained, and took a deep breath. "Because..." Austin stammered, but he just couldn't utter the rest of his words.

"Because why?" The Mewman princess goaded.

"Because Commander Cobalt is my dad!" Austin tensely blurted out without even thinking, causing his guests to gasp at his revelation.

"Wait, WHAT?" Marco shouted in shock.

"I didn't know, not till tonight." Austin croaked.

"Oh, Austin...I'm so sorry." Star empathized with her saddened friend.

"Thanks. Look, I want to help, but..." Austin trailed off, when Star interrupted.

"With those scissors in the wrong hands, my dimension and countless others are in grave danger!" Star pleaded.

"He kidnapped Janna, too!" Marco added.

Austin realized these matters were more dire than he imagined; Two of his closest friends in town were begging for his aid, and another was being held captive by Cobalt Watch. It would be terribly, unforgivably selfish for him to refuse to help them. They were there for him in his times of need, now it was time for him to return the favor...

"Come upstairs. I have something to show you." Austin replied. Star looked at Marco, and he shrugged. As the two came inside, Austin noticed that one of Marco's utility bracelets was missing, as were his jet-boosters.

"What happened to your suit?" Austin asked.

"It's complicated." Marco sighed, unwilling to recount his traumatic battle with Star.

"I heard you were in a nasty fight at the football field, so I came as soon as I could. Sorry Dad roughed you up so hard." Austin apologized, when Star leaned in and whispered the truth of what happened into his ear, shocking the boy.

"My god...that's horrible." was all Austin could muster; For his father, the hypnosis scheme was a new low.

The three friends ventured upstairs, and entered Austin's workshop. "Alright, now what?" Star asked.

"There's a project I made that can help you in your fight." Austin answered, as he stepped up to a black curtain and pulled it away, revealing his latest creation...

This creation was another suit similar to the one Marco was wearing, but more advanced. The red spandex of the suit was replaced by a carbon-fiber weave fabric of the same color. The black vest covering the suit's chest was replaced by a lightweight metal chestplate painted black. In fact, the suit had dark, metallic armor on the elbows, shoulders and knees as well.

There were no thigh-mounted jets on this version; Instead, the rocket boosters were in the soles of the boots. The black cape of the suit was made of the same carbon-weave as the base of the suit, and the utility bracelets yielded more gadgets than the original. The jet-colored gloves were now supported with lightweight armor plating. Lastly, the red, Roman-esque helmet looked roughly the same as the Mark I's, but with white eyes, rather than purple.

"I give you, the Maroon Mark II." Austin presented, proud of his work.

"Cool!" Star exclaimed in awe. Marco, on the other hand, felt conflicted. After his mistake that nearly led to Star's demise, wearing the mask felt...wrong...

"You're gonna love this new suit, Marco. It's got the coolest stuff!" Austin added, gesturing to the Mark II hanging on the wall. Marco sighed, looked up at Austin with a pained expression and decided to speak his mind.

"Thanks, but...I just can't wear it. I'm done hiding behind a mask." Marco asserted, confounding his tech-savvy friend, whose jaw dropped in shock.

"Wait, so you're just gonna quit? What happened to Maroon? What happened to us?" Austin raved as his temper began to flare.

"Austin, wait." Marco negotiated, when a brilliant idea popped into his head.

"See that suit? You know how it works, because you built it." Marco explained, referring Capers' latest project. "Yeah, so?" Austin responded.

"What if you wear it and help us stop Cobalt?" Marco offered.

Austin felt surprised, and a little unsure what to say. "I don't know. I'm not as good a fighter as you, I'd just mess everything up." The young man moped, as he sat down on a bench.

"I used to think the same about myself...'till you showed up." Marco answered, causing his friend's face to lighten up a bit. "I just don't know if I'm ready for this." Austin replied, as feelings of doubt swirled through his mind.

"You can do this, Austin. We've got your back." Star assured, as Austin stood up from his seat.

The youth inventor walked up to his creation, and knew what he had to do.

"So, are you gonna help us?" Star asked. Austin reached out, picked up the helmet of Maroon, and turned to his friends to make his statement.

"Count me in..."

SEVERAL MINUTES LATER...

Star and Marco were sitting together on a bench, waiting as Austin suited up behind a curtain. Star was feeling quite distressed; The hateful jeers of Commander Cobalt echoed maliciously in her mind.

Did Oberon have a point? After all, her magical antics did cause trouble in the community sometimes, if the madness of the monster arm, the football field fiasco, and the Mewberty incident were anything to go by.

Marco noticed his friend's unease, and decided to see if he could help. "Something wrong, Star?" He asked.

"I don't know, it's just...do you think I belong here? On Earth?" Star wondered.

"Of course you do!" Marco answered.

"But my magic puts you and everyone else in Echo Creek in danger! Isn't that why Cobalt Watch wants me dead?" Star quavered, her voice faltering a little. Marco sighed, empathizing with his saddened Mewman friend.

"Those Cobalt guys are full of it, Star. Sure you mess up sometimes, but so does everyone else. Echo Creek just wouldn't be the same without you..." Marco commended, speaking from the bottom of his heart. "Plus, it was your magic that saved my life last night." He added.

Star smiled warmly, cheered up by Marco's compliments. "Oh, Marco!" Star cooed as she shared a hug with her karate-practicing friend.

"Well, aren't you two cute?" Austin joked. He had come out from behind the curtain, wearing the upgraded Maroon suit sans the helmet, which he was holding in his arms.

"Looking good, Austin!" Star complimented. Austin smiled, and put the helmet on his head. The metal headgear made a clicking sound, and the eyepieces glowed bright with white light.

"Ready when you are." Austin spoke, already feeling more confident under the mask of Maroon. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, surprising the trio.

"Who's that?" Maroon wondered.

"Might be an ambush..." Star noticed, feeling quite suspicious.

"If's an ambush, why would they ring the doorbell?" Marco queried, bringing up a good point.

"Let's just approach them with caution." Maroon negotiated. The three then slowly crept down the stairs to deal with the mysterious visitor...

The trio had snuck halfway down the stairs, when Star held out her arms and stopped the two boys.

"Hold on, I got an idea!" Star remarked, as she held out her wand.

An arm made of pink energy came out of her wand, and grabbed onto the handle of the door. In anticipation, Marco entered a fighting stance, and Austin aimed his wrist-blasters at the door, fearing the worst...

Star's energy hand opened the door, revealing a slightly overweight man wearing a tan-colored trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat that obscured most of his face. The man shrieked in fear when he saw the costumed trio poised for a fight.

"Calm down! It's just some weird guy in a trenchcoat." Austin explained, as he lowered his blasters. Star rested her wand, and Marco eased out of his battle stance. The trio walked down the stairs to speak to the strange man.

"What do you want?" Maroon spoke in a bass, metallic voice that was similar but distinguishable from Marco's.

"I have important data to share...about Cobalt Watch." The mysterious man clarified.

"Wait, wait. Who are you?" Star asked.

"I'm a scientist who worked for Cobalt Watch, until I...defected..." The stranger explained.

"Wait, you're one of THEM?" Marco snapped, still angry due to Cobalt Watch nearly making him kill Star.

"Not after what they did to me. I have the key to taking them down." The defector went on, intriguing Maroon.

"Come. Show us what you mean." Maroon spoke, as he and the defector walked upstairs.

"He sounds familiar." Star remarked, as Marco nodded in agreement...

SEVERAL MINUTES LATER - AUSTIN'S WORKSHOP

In the workshop, the ex-Cobalt informant held out a hologram projector, revealing the schematics of a huge airship.

"What is that?" Star asked.

"That, my dear, is Project Dauntless." The informant spoke.

"It's an repulsor-powered aerial assault dreadnought, the first of its kind. Decked out with energy cannons, missile launchers, the works." The mysterious defector presented.

"What else does it have?" Austin inquired.

The defector continued to explain the structure of the Dauntless, which included the reactor core at the rear of the ship, which powered the aircraft, the controls to the dreadnought's weapons systems, the brig where Janna was being held captive, and finally, the command bridge at the anterior end, where Commander Cobalt would operate his sinister engine of war.

After the defector explained all there was to know about Project Dauntless, Star had a burning question to ask.

"Why are they doing this?" was all the princess wanted to know.

"Because of you." The defector huffed, which caused Star to feel hurt.

"Why, what did Star ever do?" Marco protested.

"I have nothing against Princess Butterfly. On the other hand, the Commander has this...animosity towards extra-dimensionals like her." The informant explained. Austin sighed in remorse; He had no idea his loving father could be such a wretched bigot.

"Commander Cobalt's master plan is to invade your home dimension and spark a war between them and Earth." The informant clarified as he gestured to Star. "But Mewni is a peaceful kingdom!" Star objected.

"The Commander disagrees. He believes you and your kingdom are threats to Earth's safety, and a war with Mewni will strengthen humanity." The defector replied as he adjusted his trench coat and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Austin asked.

"I must be going now. Good luck on your mission, heroes. Make Oberon pay." The defector snarled as he left the room.

With the mysterious informant gone, the trio of heroes devised a plan to stop Cobalt Watch and prevent a devastating war between worlds...

TEN MINUTES LATER...

After a spontaneous brainstorming session, Star, Marco and Austin had developed a strategy to take on the Dauntless. The three heroes would board the ship together, entering right by the reactor core. Once they fought off all the Cobalt Watch troopers, each hero would have a task to complete: Star would shut down the weapons systems, Marco would rescue Janna from the brig, and Austin would face down his father on the command bridge.

The three heroes were suited up for action, with Star in her Butterfly superhero costume, Marco in the remains of the original Maroon suit, and Austin in his advanced vigilante's attire. Now was the time to take down Cobalt Watch for good.

Outside the house, the trio prepared to head out to the abandoned Avidex facility where Cobalt Watch operated.

"Alright boys, let's kick some Cobalt butts!" Star exclaimed.

"Wait a minute. How are we gonna get there without your portal-scissor things?" Maroon asked. Star activated her wand, and created a winged purple cloud with two beady eyes and a mouth.

"Hop on!" Star gestured as she jumped on the cloud.

"This is gonna get weird, isn't it?" Maroon wondered.

"Tell me about it." Marco retorted, as the two sat down on the cloud next to Star.

"Let's GO!" The excitable princess exclaimed, and the three flew off into the night sky, on a perilous mission to defeat the forces of evil...


	9. The Dauntless Dreadnought

Down in the sinister lair of Cobalt Watch, a great and malignant evil was beginning to rise. Oberon Capers stood on the balcony, carefully watching Star's stolen dimensional scissors be installed into a large mechanical arm mounted on the front of the massive airship. All the while, dozens of ruthless troopers in tactical gear marched into the dreadnought's cabin.

"Everything is going according to plan." Oberon remarked, as he left the balcony and took an elevator down to a lower level of the facility.

The armored commander strutted into the Dauntless, and made his way towards the command bridge at the dreadnought's front end. When he entered the room, he instructed the operators piloting his engine of war.

"Prepare for launch!" Oberon ordered. The operators pressed and pulled the corresponding buttons and levers, igniting the repulsor-powered engines of the dreadnought. As the roof of the facility opened up, the airship flew up into the night sky, on its way to wage a devastating war...

Farther back in the skies, Star was flying on her magical winged cloud with Marco and Austin, the latter of which now going by the title Maroon. As they flew through the sky, Marco's face flapped due to the velocity and wind of the flight.

"Bet you wish you still had your helmet!" Maroon remarked. In the distance, Star could spot the imposing dreadnought ominously floating through the sky.

"There's the ship!" Star exclaimed, as the three flew in closer to begin their assault on the Dauntless...

In the command bridge, Oberon watched in satisfaction as his magnum opus hovered through the air. He then turned to one of the operators to make his next order.

"Activate the scissors!" Commander Cobalt ordered, as one of his men pulled a lever, activating the mechanical arm on the side of the ship, which opened up the scissors and slowly began to tear open a large portal leading to Mewni...

As the trio of heroes landed on the top of the ship's posterior end, Austin could see the arm starting to make a portal between worlds.

"They're making a portal!" He exclaimed.

"Then we better act fast!" Star added, as she used her wand to cut a circular hole leading into the reactor room. The trio jumped into the ship, alarming a quartet of Cobalt Watch troopers standing guard.

"It's the alien!" One of the troopers shouted, as he raised his rifle. Luckily, he had no chance to use it, as he was hit square in the face with a Rainbow Fist Blast. Another trooper tried to shoot Star with a pistol, but was tripped by her wand-staff and smacked unconscious.

A trooper with a riot baton ran towards Marco, but he disarmed him by twisting his the wrist, and hit him with his own electrified baton, defeating him. The last trooper in the room tried to corner Austin, but the amateur vigilante snapped his fingers, activating a whip-cord that tied the lout up. "So far, so good!" Star remarked.

While the heroes fought the troopers in the reactor room, the mechanical arm had done its job; The menacing aerial warship had appeared thousands of feet above the peasant village bordering the royal Mewman kingdom. As the shadow of the deadly dreadnought was cast upon the villages, Mewman citizens gawked and panicked at the invading dreadnought.

Back on the bridge, Commander Cobalt looked down at the foreign Butterfly Kingdomi in disgust. "Alien savages." Oberon snarled, as he stomped over to an intercom to command his troopers.

"Attention! We have entered the domain of the Mewman aliens. All gunners may fire at will!" Cobalt commanded.

3In the mid-section of the ship where the weapons were operated, Cobalt Watch troopers controlled cannons and fired blasts of energy from them, raining down upon the city. As houses and other buildings were destroyed in the ongoing assault, one of the troopers aimed a missile launcher straight at Butterfly castle, and prepared to fire.

However, before the operator could unleash the storm of missiles, his targeting computer was blown up by a blast of magic! All the troopers in the room looked to see an angry Star at the end of the hallway, with Marco and Austin flanking her; All three were ready for a hell of a fight.

"CHARGE!" Star screamed, as she blasted a control panel.

A group of troopers ran towards her with their weapons, but she let out a holler of "SYRUP TSUNAMI SHOCKWAVE!" and behold, a wave of sticky syrup shot out, sticking the cavalcade of cruel and conniving cads to the wall.

On the other side of the room, Austin and Marco were kicking C.W. butts left and right. A man with a machete tried to hack Austin up, but he snapped his fingers, and a circular metal shield contracted from his bracelet, blocking the blow. Maroon jumped up with his rocket boots and took the machete-wielder down with a blaster shot.

Marco disarmed a rifle-wielding trooper, and took him down with a flurry of swift chops and kicks, when he heard Austin call out the word "DUCK!"

Marco heeded Austin's advice and dropped to the ground, and heard the sound of blaster fire. When he looked behind him, he saw a freshly downed trooper. "Thanks for the save!" Marco exclaimed, as Maroon nodded.

When all the Cobalt Watch troopers were defeated, Star used her wand to blow up the rest of the weapons systems, ceasing all fire on Mewman grounds, relieving the citizens below. Thankfully, a little less than a dozen were hurt, and none were killed.

MEANWHILE ON THE BRIDGE...

Commander Cobalt was immensely angered when he noticed the weapons had stopped firing! "Why has the assault stopped?" Oberon shouted with vicious vitriol.

"The weapons systems have gone offline!" An operator exclaimed. Another one checked security cameras, and saw the three heroes in the weapons room.

"Sir, the alien princess and her allies have come aboard!" Another alerted, causing Oberon to let out a hateful growl.

"Send in reinforcements, NOW!" Cobalt commanded, as a squad of troopers ran out of the room to fight the intruders...

BACK IN THE WEAPONS ROOM...

Star wiped drops of sweat from her brow, feeling the heat of the battle.

"Alright, the weapons are down." Austin noted; Not only were the weapon operating consoles offline, they were totally destroyed.

"Alright, you boys know what's next?" Star asked.

"I go save Janna." Marco answered.

"And I face my father..." Austin continued with a sigh, when the door leading to both rooms opened; A trio of Cobalt Watch troopers sent by the commander himself had arrived!

Marco and Austin got ready to fight, but Star had other plans.

"You guys go! I can take these losers!" Star ordered, as she charged up her wand. As the two other heroes sprinted off to their missions, they could hear an angry yell of "NARWHAL BLAST!" and the screams of those poor, idiotic mercenaries...

MOMENTS LATER IN THE BRIG...

In the cold, sterile brig of the ship, Janna Ordonia lay down in her cell, which was guarded by four Cobalt Watch troopers. She sighed, feeling hopeless and afraid for her life. While the teen was quite accustomed to macabre matters relating to the occult, being held prisoner on a madman's airship was a whole different beast, and a scary one at that.

"Quiet, girl!" One of the guards suddenly snapped.

"But I didn't say anything!" Janna protested, as another guard sighed.

"Why do WE get stuck with guard duty?" The trooper retorted with a groan.

Suddenly, the door opened, and one of the troopers heard the snapping of fingers, and was immediately hit by an energy blast.

"Is that-" Janna muttered, shocked that Maroon, a hero she had surprisingly not yet seen in the flesh had arrived. As "Maroon" leapt into the room to fight the other guards, Janna was in for an even bigger shock.

"MARCO?" Janna exclaimed, completely blindsided by Maroon's true identity. Marco elegantly took down the other guards with his karate moves, as the raven-haired prisoner just watched in awe, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

After defeating the three troopers, Marco fired a wrist-blast at the cell's lock, opening the door and freeing Janna, who suddenly ran up to Marco and hugged him tightly. The young Latino was surprised Janna was this happy to see him; Her behavior was quite strange to him, but certainly not unwelcome. To comfort her, he hugged her back.

"Marco, you're alive! Also, you're MAROON?" Janna asked in surprise.

"Not anymore." Marco answered.

"Surprised I never found out. You actually kept a secret from me, for once." Janna remarked, when she saw one of the troopers start to get up.

"Marco, LOOK OUT!" She exclaimed. Marco looked to see the trooper sneaking up on him with a knife, so he took him out with a wrist-blast, and turned back to Janna.

"Let's go get Star." Marco replied, as he led his rescued friend out of the desolate brig by the hand.

MOMENTS LATER ON THE COMMAND BRIDGE...

Commander Cobalt was pacing back and forth around the bridge, desperately awaiting good news. "Are the weapons back online?" Cobalt snapped.

"Sir, we still can't-" An operator explained, when he was rudely cut off by his angry superior.

"I WANT ANSWERS, NOT EXCUSES!" Oberon barked, when the doors to the command bridge suddenly opened. Standing in the doorway was none other than Maroon!

Oberon turned to see the masked vigilante, and grinned in an unnerving fashion.

"Diaz! I never thought you'd show up, you filthy coward." The commander taunted, as he stepped a pace forward. "How can you expect to beat me, you couldn't even kill your stupid little girlfriend!" Oberon jeered.

"I am not Marco." Maroon claimed.

"Oh? Then just who might you be under that stupid little mask?" Oberon hissed, toying with his foe. Maroon put his finger up to his helmet, and it clicked as the two halves separated, exposing the true face of Maroon; Austin Capers.

This revelation shocked Oberon and shook him to his core. "Son?" was all he could choke out.

"This ends now, father." Austin spoke, staring deep into his Oberon's eyes.

Oberon turned to the other operators on the bridge. "Leave us." He snarled. On command, the operators all left, leaving the father and son alone on the bridge.

"How could you betray me like this?" Austin exclaimed in anger.

"I was about to ask the same. How could you turn on your own father to serve that wretched little princess?" Oberon answered.

"You're putting millions of innocent lives at risk!" Austin refuted with a fiery passion.

"I'm doing this to save our home! Those Mewni savages are warmongers; How long before they come for Earth?" Oberon inquired.

"You don't know that!" Austin argued.

Oberon scoffed disagreement. "I'm the one man who does! When I told those fools back at Avidex of those terrible aliens, they called me crazy! Forced me from the company I made great!" The commander ranted.

"Now, I shall make this offer only once, boy. Join me, and we shall claim victory together in The War Between Worlds!" Oberon shouted.

"I'll never join you!" Austin rejected.

"Then you will suffer..." Oberon threatened, as he pulled out his energy rifle. Austin closed his helmet back up; Now was the time to fight.

The commander quickly opened fire on his son, but Maroon snapped his fingers, contracting a metal shield on each of his wrists to block the fire. He ran towards Cobalt while shielding himself, and tore the rifle from his father's hands. Then, he threw the weapon to the corner of the room.

To retaliate, Oberon grabbed Maroon by the throat and threw the vigilante across the room. Maroon reacted quickly and fired up his rocket boots, stabilizing himself. He rotated his bracelets to their blaster settings, and began firing at his armored enemy whilst hovering through the air.

Oberon drew out his energy sword and flicked a switch on it, making the blade go flaccid; Now it was a deadly whip! The villain swung his whip at Maroon, and it wrapped around his torso, electrocuting him. Oberon yanked on said whip, bringing his foe to the cold, hard ground.

"Surrender now, boy." Oberon growled as he looked down upon his son, who was reeling on the floor and groaning in pain. Slowly, the caped vigilante began to rise.

"Make me." Austin retorted, as he activated his wrist-blades and got in a fighting stance. Cobalt drew his other energy sword, and the two charged at each other, beginning a duel between father and son...

BACK IN THE MAIN HALLWAY...

After a rigorous skirmish in the weapons control room, Star twirled her wand in celebration, standing victorious over a squadron of defeated Cobalt Watch troopers. The princess heard a door open, and pointed her wand at the possible enemies, but what she saw was a sight for sore eyes; Marco and Janna, both safe and sound.

"Janna, you're okay!" Star exclaimed, as she ran up and tightly hugged her.

"All thanks to Karate Kid." Janna remarked as she gestured to Marco.

"We need to help Austin!" Star implored.

"Wait, Austin's here, too?" Janna asked, being quite out-of-the-loop on the current situation. Suddenly, Marco realized that if they fought Cobalt together, Janna could get hurt or killed in the midst of the battle.

"I need to get Janna to safety." Marco spoke.

"But what about Austin? I can't take on Cobalt alone!" Star exclaimed, feeling concerned.

"You can do it, I believe in you." Marco replied. Star smiled, and the two shared one last hug before the climactic battle.

"Thanks, Marco." Star replied. She then fired a beam of magic at one of the walls of the ship, cutting a circular hole in it. "Here you go!" She chirped, as she summoned another magic cloud for Marco and Janna to escape on.

"Good luck, Star!" Marco spoke his parting words to his bestie, as he jumped on the cloud.

"Kick Austin's dad's butt for me!" Janna remarked, as she mounted the cloud, and flew away with Marco.

After Star's friends were out of sight, she started to worry. What if this was the last they ever spoke? The princess sighed, and began her journey to the bridge, hoping she could reach Austin in time...

BACK AT THE COMMAND BRIDGE...

On the bridge of the Dauntless, the two armored adversaries were duking it out in a heated duel. Cobalt swung his energy swords with great skill, but Maroon was able to block them with his wrist-mounted blades.

"Father, please stop!" Austin cried, as he started to grow tired from blocking his father's strikes. However, his attempt to reach out only lowered his defenses, and Cobalt turned one of his swords into a whip and smacked Maroon hard in the chest, shattering his metal chestplate and knocking him to the ground.

"Stay down, boy. You're only hurting yourself." Oberon chided as he stared down his unruly son. Angered by the obstinance of his father, Maroon quickly leaped up with his rocket-boots and attacked with his wrist-blades.

Oberon blocked his foe's first strike and swung his whip, but the blow was blocked by Maroon's collapsible shield. Maroon lunged at his sinister father, struck him in the torso with his shield and slashed him across the chest with his blade, piercing Cobalt's armor and causing it to spark.

"You've fought well, son." Oberon remarked as he looked down at Maroon, who was breathing heavily. "BUT NOT WELL ENOUGH!" Cobalt shouted, as he suddenly swung his sword at the vigilante.

Maroon blocked the strike with his shield, and parried two more with his blade, when in an act of dirty fighting, Cobalt stomped on his own son's foot, kicked him to the ground, and stabbed him straight through the abdomen with his electrified sword.

As Maroon loudly cried out in pain, a voice called out his true name in terror. "AUSTIN!" A voice screamed in anguish. Cobalt looked to the end of the bridge to see none other than Star, who was shocked at how he ruthlessly stabbed his own son.

"Ah, the alien-" was all Cobalt could say, before Star fired a huge blast of magic at him, knocking the villain into the ship's steering mechanism. This caused the ship to tilt downwards; The mighty Dauntless was starting to make an unplanned collision-course with Mewman ground.

As the warship began to plummet, Star rushed to her injured friend. "Austin!" Star cried, hoping he was okay, only to be agonized upon seeing his abdominal wound. Austin weakly muttered the princess's name, and nothing more. "I'll help you, don't worry!" Star promised, when Cobalt lunged to attack her with his sword.

Star blocked strike after strike with her wand-staff, as Cobalt kept attacking like a violent predatory animal. "Why won't you DIE!" Oberon screamed, as he struck Star's wand with his energy sword, and hit her with a hard backhand, knocking the Mewman to the ground.

Cobalt raised his weapon to bring about the fatal blow, when a whip-cord tied itself around the fiend's throat. As Oberon sputtered and gagged, Austin pulled the cord, causing his father to fall to the floor.

With Cobalt down, Star picked Austin up over her shoulder and blasted a hole through the side of the ship. The princess quickly leapt out of the falling ship, and was falling hundreds of feet with her injured ally in tow.

Star thought fast, and quickly used her wand to summon a trampoline on the ground. The two landed on the bouncy mat, breaking their fall. Just moments later, the Dauntless hit the ground with a thunderous CRASH!

Once they landed, Star set her friend on the ground, and saw his bleeding wound. Suddenly, the princess's mind flashed back to a memory of her first mission with Maroon, and how she used the healing spell to save his life.

Star anxiously pulled out her wand, and a pink light glowed from it. To her delight, the spell was slowly starting to work! Austin's wound stopped bleeding, and some of the flesh started to regenerate. All of a sudden, Star heard the familiar roar of a jetpack, and her heart started to sink into her chest...

With a discordant clank, Commander Cobalt landed five feet away from Star and Austin. He was growling and panting heavily, and was hunched over; His face was noticeably bruised, and blood trickled down from his cheek. All the fighting had took a toll on his physical and mental state.

"I have you now, Butterfly." Oberon snarled, as he stared the princess down with a hateful expression.

"Stop, please! I'm trying to save your son!" Star pleaded for mercy, but Oberon was having none of it.

"Austin's life is a sacrifice I'll make to save humanity from your wretched kind...STARTING WITH YOU!" Oberon shouted as he aimed his blaster pistol at Star. The princess flinched and closed her eyes as he was about to fire, when suddenly, both belligerents heard a scream of fiery, unbridled rage.

Not even a second later, Marco leapt up and punched Oberon in the face as hard as he possibly could. The enraged ex-vigilante's fist caused the sinister commander to fall to the ground unconscious.

As Star looked at her best friend in utter shock, Marco just stared at his fallen enemy, while taking deep breaths. That punch may have hurt his hand, but it felt cathartic; Knocking out Oberon was justice for Star, justice for Austin, justice for Janna, and justice for himself...

Marco looked deep into the princess's eyes, and spoke two words; "Save him." Was all the exhausted young man could muster.

Star quickly got back to healing Austin, and the wound regenerated more flesh, until dark patches of skin formed over the wound. Maroon's injury had fully healed, but was he alive?

Star quickly removed Austin's helmet, and her face went aghast when she saw that his eyes were closed, and his mouth was open. "Austin?" Star whimpered. When she saw he was unresponsive, she started to cry; Could Maroon have died on his first mission?

Star continued to sob over her friend's body, as Marco and Janna came over to comfort her. Suddenly, a gloved hand reached out and touched Star's cheek. Star reared up and saw her friend's eyes slowly open.

"...Star?"

Upon seeing that Austin was indeed alive, Star enveloped the boy in a tight hug. "You're alive!" Star exclaimed in relief.

"Ugh, what happened?" Austin moaned. Everything after his stab wound felt like a hazy dream to him, with all the excitement he had experienced. He looked five feet forward, saw his unconscious father, and sighed. With help from Marco and Janna, Austin slowly got back and looked at his friends, unsure of how to feel.

"You did good, Austin." Marco remarked, causing his friend to smile a little. However, that smile turned into an expression of shock, when he and the rest of his friends turned to see a horde of Cobalt Watch troopers marching towards them.

"They must've survived the crash!" Star exclaimed. Austin activated his wrist-blade and shield, Star charged up her wand, and Marco got into a karate stance as Janna hid behind him; Looks like the fight wasn't over just yet.

Suddenly, before either party could attack, a loud horn was sounded, and a stampede of armored knights riding huge Warnicorns trampled the troopers. The royal army had arrived!

Over a hundred loyal knights surrounded the crashed Dauntless and took down the rest of the mercenaries. As Maroon and his allies eased from their battle positions, Star looked very relieved; Her people had come to save the day!

FIVE MINUTES LATER...

As Cobalt Watch's remaining forces were being apprehended by the Butterfly Kingdom's army, Star and Austin were approached by a group of knights escorting the royal parents of Star; Queen Moon and King River of Mewni.

"Mom! Dad!" Star exclaimed, as she ran up to hug her parents.

"Star!" River gladly replied, grateful that his daughter was safe.

"Who is that young man over there?" Moon inquired, pointing to Star's new human friend.

"Mom, Dad, this is Austin. He helped me stop the bad guys." Star said, introducing her parents to her friend.

Austin respectfully bowed on one knee to the Butterfly royals. "Your Highness." Austin spoke in a respectful tone.

"Nice to meet you, Austin!" River said as he shook the boy's hand, shaking him around like a rag doll.

"Who were those invaders? Obviously, they weren't monsters." Moon asked, causing Austin to sigh.

"They were terrorists. An anti-Mewni hate group from Earth...led by my father." Austin quavered, as he gestured to the unconscious body of Oberon Capers. He felt embarrassed speaking with Star's parents, as his own father tried to kill them and destroy their kingdom.

"He's nothing like his dad. He's a hero!" Star clarified to her parents.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I bet you and Star showed them who's boss, huh?" River chuckled.

"Actually, Marco was the one who beat him." The princess explained, when she realized Marco wasn't with her. "Where IS Marco?" Austin wondered.

AT THE WRECK OF THE DREADNOUGHT...

While Star and Austin spoke with the Butterfly parents, Marco sat on a log, watching the wrecked Dauntless burn as he silently reflected on all that had happened. As he intently watched the flames dance and the smoke rise, a voice called out to him.

"Hey, Diaz!"

Marco cocked his head, and saw Janna walking towards him. The raven-haired girl sat down next to her friend, and decided to chat with him. "Hey, thanks for the save back there." Janna remarked.

"No problem. Whatever you had to endure on that ship...I'm sorry it ever happened." Marco consoled.

Marco's consolation made Janna realize something terrible she did; Giving up her secret of hypnosis to spare Marco's life. Earlier in the brig, she'd heard of his tragic brainwashing from the chatter of the troopers. Initially, she thought she'd just hide the truth and say nothing, but something deep inside her made her feel like she owed him the truth. Janna sighed, and turned to Marco with a pained expression.

"Is something wrong?" Marco inquired, noticing Janna's unease.

"This is all my fault." Janna moped.

"Don't blame yourself, Janna. None of this was your fault." Marco replied.

"I...I..." Janna just couldn't choke out the words she wanted to confess.

"You..." Marco tried to finish her sentence, when Janna finally cracked.

"I told Cobalt how to hypnotize you!" Janna confessed in a moment of emotional distress. Marco was shocked, and unsure of what to say. Before he could utter a word, Janna elaborated on just why she did such a thing.

"Back in his base, Cobalt interrogated me. He told me if I didn't tell him how to hypnotize you...He'd kill you, and force me to watch." Janna sniffled. Marco immediately realized her actions were not out of malice, rather they were out of compassion.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry for everything." Janna quavered, feeling absolutely horrible about herself.

Marco reached out, put his arm around Janna's torso, and pulled her in next to him, surprising her. "It's okay, Janna, I understand. It's all over now." Marco consoled, making Janna feel relieved that he wasn't at all angry with her.

Janna looked up at the tired, bruised face of her friend, and decided to give him a little reward for his kindness and heroism. She leaned in, and gave her rescuer an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

Marco's eyes widened in surprise, and his face turned tomato-red. "You did good, safe kid." Janna remarked, as she rested her head on his shoulder. Marco wrapped his arms around his Filipina friend and smiled, relieved that she was safe and sound...

"Aww, that's so cute!" A familiar, feminine voice cooed out from behind. Both Janna and Marco gasped in surprise, ended their impromptu cuddle session, and frantically turned around to see Star and Austin standing behind them.

"It's not what it looks like!" Janna exclaimed, feeling quite embarrassed to be caught in the act of love.

"Marco, you sly old dog!" Austin chuckled. Marco got up off the log and walked up to Star, in order to give his friend some good news.

"Marco, you did great back there!" Star cheered.

"Thanks, Star." Marco replied, feeling better already. Star was about to continue her conversation, when she suddenly had a grim realization.

"My scissors!" Star yelped, as she realized they were last seen on the front of the crashed warship. "Oh no, what am I going to do?" Star uttered, as she began to panic.

"Actually..." Marco intervened, as he reached behind his cape and pulled out Star's prized dimensional scissors. "Here you go, Star." Marco warmly said, as he handed them to the princess.

Star gasped in relief as she saw her prized tools of travel. Without hesitation, she ran up to Marco and embraced him in a warm, tight hug. "Thank you so much, Marco!" Star gratefully exclaimed.

"It was no problem. I just snatched them off the ship while we were escaping." Marco explained.

"You're the best." Star happily complimented.

While Star and Marco were chatting it up, Austin picked up his battle helmet, and carefully inspected it for any damage. There were a few nicks and scratches, but nothing too serious. "Not too bad." The vigilante remarked to himself.

"So, how long have you been Maroon for?" Janna inquired. Austin turned to respond to his friend.

"Well, this was my first mission. It used to be Marco." He explained.

"Looks like Star was half-right, then." The delinquent remarked.

"Well, if I'm gonna keep doing this superhero stuff...I've got some big shoes to fill." Austin sighed, as he pointed to Marco. Despite his skills in engineering, martial arts know-how was something he lacked.

"Eh, I'm sure you'll do great." Janna answered.

"Hey, you aren't gonna tell anyone about this, are you?" Austin queried. If Marco's anecdotes were anything to go by, Janna wasn't one for keeping secrets.

"You're secret's safe with me, kid." Janna replied, relieving the young inventor. As he looked around at his friends, and then down at his helmet, Austin realized something; Through the help of his three new friends, he had grown as a person and became something more, something greater; Austin had become a hero...


	10. Last Goodbyes

The morning after the climactic battle of the Dauntless, the upscale Capers household was nearly empty, with the exception of one young man. After he ate his breakfast, showered, brushed his teeth and changed into his attire, (A purple t-shirt and blue jeans) Austin busied himself by packing up all of his possessions.

In one hour, a taxi would be picking him up, to take him to a new home with his aunt and uncle upstate. The youth inventor felt isolated in his roomy home, without the presence of his father. Despite Oberon's heinous actions, a part of Austin's mind still missed the man that raised him...

Austin took the Maroon suit out from his workshop, and discreetly packed it into a duffel bag. He then buried it under all his other clothes, to conceal his secret project. He intended to resume fighting crime under the Maroon moniker once he relocated, but the idea of being a full-time hero felt somewhat...overwhelming.

In the living room, Austin was looking for some possessions of his, when he came across a picture that made him feel quite disheartened; It was a picture of him when he was ten years old, standing with Oberon and his mother Rebecca, who had unfortunately passed away several years ago. Austin sighed, and placed the photo in his bag as a keepsake of when his family was...normal...

30 MINUTES LATER...

After half an hour more of tedious labor, Austin had finished backing his things. Moving was a conflicting subject to him; He loved his aunt and uncle, but he'd definitely miss Echo Creek, and all the friends he made in the little town. The boy sat down on the couch and looked out the window. "I'm really gonna miss this place..." He thought to himself, when all of the sudden, the doorbell rang.

Austin leapt up off his seat, and rushed to the foyer. After all, he had a good idea who was at the door, unless the cab driver came thirty minutes early. He opened up the front door, to see who but Star and Marco standing in the doorway together!

"Surprise!" Star and Marco cheered in unison. Austin smiled, pleasantly surprised.

"Oh, you guys! What brings you here?" He asked.

"Well, we heard you were moving away, so we thought we'd hang out with you one last time." Star explained.

"Thanks, you guys are the best!" Austin gushed, as he led his friends to the living room.

"So, how did you guys know I was moving?" Austin asked, when Janna jumped out from behind the couch and shouted "BOO!" Austin and Marco both jumped in surprise.

"How long have you been hiding here?" Austin inquired, feeling quite unnerved.

"Long enough." Janna remarked, as she turned to Marco. "Hey Diaz, can we talk? Alone?" Janna asked, causing Marco to become flustered.

"A-alone?" Marco stammered.

"It's important!" Janna claimed, as she led Marco outside to the front yard. When the two left, Star jokingly made a kissing face, causing Austin to laugh tremendously at her humorous gesture.

OUTSIDE THE CAPERS HOUSEHOLD...

Janna led Marco out to the front yard of the house to speak her mind. "So, uh...what did you want to talk about?" Marco nervously asked.

"We, uh...kinda got a little...touchy-feely last night." Janna confessed, referring to her rather tender moment with Marco from last night.

"Yeah..." Marco agreed.

"I did some thinking last night, and...I just don't know if I'm ready for a full-on relationship." Janna confessed.

Marco didn't know how to feel; He always found it annoying when Janna teased him, but she was still his friend, and one that he admittedly found rather easy on the eyes. "I understand. I won't make you do anything you aren't comfortable with." Marco respectfully replied.

"It's not that I don't like you, Marco; You're a great guy. It's just...I'm not ready to take things seriously yet." Janna sighed.

"Well, can we still be friends?" Marco asked.

"Of course!" Janna answered. "In fact, I even invited a certain someone here to see you." The beanie-wearing girl remarked with a devious grin.

As if on cue, the two began to hear the familiar sound of a skateboard rolling down the street, causing Marco to perk up.

The safe kid turned around to see Jackie Lynn-Thomas, his crush since kindergarten, gracefully skating down the sidewalk. The lovestruck teen began to swoon, as Janna started to walk away.

"I'll give you two some space." Janna retorted as she walked off.

"Hey, Marco!" Jackie called out, snapping Marco out of his infatuated daze. The athletic young woman skated up to him, kicked up her board, and caught it in her hands. Marco started to sweat, and his heart began racing; Whenever that girl was near, he was a blushing, stammering, adorably awkward mess.

"Uh...hey, Jackie!" Marco faltered, feeling a little anxious around the teen heartthrob.

"So, Janna told me about what you did last night." Jackie conversed. Marco was shocked; His crush knew his secret life as a masked vigilante!

"I...I can explain!" Marco frantically stammered, as his heart raced even more.

"You were Maroon all this time? That is so cool!" Jackie exclaimed, relieving the nervous Latino.

"Y-you really think so?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, and you're so brave, too!" The skilled skateboarder continued, making Marco blush with her compliments.

"Thank you, Janna..." Marco thought to himself, as he continued to chat it up with the girl of his dreams...

BACK IN THE LIVING ROOM...

Austin and Star were having their own chat in the living room, about the future of Maroon.

"So, are you going to keep being Maroon?" Star queried.

"Of course! I made that suit to fight evil, and that's what I'll do." Austin answered, when his expression soured; He remembered a very personal question he wanted to ask her...

"Star?" Austin meekly asked.

"Yeah?" The princess replied.

"I've had a question I've wanted to ask you...I just need closure." The boy muttered.

"Well, what is it?" She inquired. Austin took a deep breath, and popped her the question;

"What's gonna happen to my dad?"

Star sighed, and told Austin everything she knew. "Mom said that she and the Magic High Commission are gonna put him on trial." Star answered.

"The what?" Austin asked, having no idea what the MHC was.

"They control all the magic in the universe. When your dad stole my scissors and brought his ship to Mewni, he broke a magic law." The Mewman explained.

"So, does that mean he's going to magic jail?" Austin wondered.

"I don't know what'll happen to him." Star replied. Austin felt a little unnerved by this; Oberon deserved everything that was coming to him, but the thought of his dad out in the unknown...it scared him. Thus, Austin just decided not to think of it any longer.

"As for the other Cobalt Watch guys, Mom said our kingdom's reaching out to leaders on Earth to deal with them." Star claimed.

"Ironic. Dad tried to start a war between worlds, but only brought them closer together." Austin remarked.

"Hey, could you get Marco for me?" Star asked her friend.

"Sure, how come?" Austin replied. "I have something special to show you guys." The princess clucked, as Austin went out to find his hoodie-wearing amigo...

Back outside, Marco was still talking with Jackie; He had become far more confident, and was regaling her with tales of his exploits as Maroon.

"Just as he was about to shoot Star, I ran up and punched him in the face so hard I knocked him out!" Marco boasted, as he punched the air in demonstration.

"Now that's pretty cool." Jackie remarked, when Austin walked up to the two.

"Hey, Marco! Who's the lovely lady you're with?" Austin asked.

"Jackie Lynn-Thomas." The skateboarder happily introduced herself.

"Austin Capers." The youth inventor replied with a smile.

"Star wants you to see her, said she has something to show us." Austin explained.

"Alright, let's go." Marco replied.

"You're welcome to come, too." Austin told Jackie. After all, he was well aware that Marco had a crush on her; It was against the "bro code" to you-know-what-block him.

As Jackie and Marco followed Austin to the door, he pointed to some bushes. "You too, Janna." Austin retorted, and the sneaky troublemaker popped out her hiding place in the bushes.

"How did you find me?" Janna asked.

The three teens followed Austin inside, to where Star was waiting with her dimensional scissors in hand. "So, what did you want us to see?" Austin asked.

Star smiled, as she tore open a portal with her scissors. "Follow me!" She giddily exclaimed as she leapt through it. Austin shrugged and entered the portal, as did the other three friends.

On the other side of the portal was a mountain. However, it didn't feel like any mountain on Earth; Austin had a strange gut feeling that this place was not of his world.

"So, where are we?" Marco asked.

"You'll see, just keep following me!" Star answered, as she giddily began running up the mountain.

After several exhausting minutes of trekking up the alien mountain, our heroes had reached its summit, and laid eyes upon a breathtaking view; From this mystical peak, they could see all of the kingdom of Mewni; From the magnificent Butterfly Castle, to the still-smoking wreck of the Dauntless.

Austin was taken aback by the beautiful majesty of the mountaintop view, as was Marco. "See all this? We saved it together." Star announced, gesturing to the magnificent view.

"Aw, thanks, Star!" Marco warmly replied.

"I'm glad you took us up here." Austin stated, thankful to be on the summit of his victory.

The five friends continued up on the mountain for what felt like five minutes. They chatted, laughed and enjoyed the gorgeous view, until Austin realized his cab would be arriving soon.

"I think it's time for us to go." Austin spoke.

"Aw, just five more minutes?" Janna protested

. "My ride should be coming shortly." Austin replied; He didn't want to leave either, but he knew he'd have to go sometime.

"Alright, let's get you home!" Star exclaimed, as she tore open a portal leading back to the Capers' front yard.

"You too!" Star called out to Marco and Jackie, who were relaxing together under a shady tree. The two got up and followed the others back to Earth...

The gaggle of friends returned to see that Austin's cab to the airport was already there! "Where have you been? I've been waiting for fifteen minutes!" The cabbie complained.

"Looks like we stayed longer than I thought." Austin remarked

. "Your stuff's already packed, you coming or what?" The cab driver impatiently barked.

Austin looked at his Echo Creek-ian friends and sighed deeply. He'd miss each and every one of them, despite how short his stay was. So, he decided to say his last goodbyes to them, starting with his closest friend.

Austin walked up to Marco, and spoke his mind to the former vigilante. "Thanks for being a great friend, Marco. Without you, I would've never found my true calling." Austin complimented, making Marco smile.

"I'm gonna miss you, dude." The karate expert replied, as they shook hands and hugged.

Next, he approached Janna, and leaned in to discreetly tell her his thoughts. "Thanks for being able to keep a secret." Austin remarked, causing Janna to giggle.

"No problem, Capers." The troublemaker retorted, as the boy made his way to Jackie.

"Uh, Jackie, right? I never really got to know you, but Marco says you're pretty cool." Austin stated. Jackie turned to smile at Marco, whose face turned a little red.

"Take good care of him for me." Austin chuckled, as he walked away.

"Take care of him?" Jackie asked, as Marco practically died of embarrassment.

Lastly, Austin stepped up to the girl who saved his life; Star Butterfly. "Star...my father was wrong about you. About everything..." Austin spoke from his heart, causing Star's eyes to widen. "Everywhere you go, you help people; Your kingdom knows it, your friends know it, and I know it. I hope you do, too." He commended, as his royal friend smiled widely.

"Thanks, that means a lot." Star replied.

Austin looked down at the alien princess who saved his life, and knew he still had to repay her for her selfless act of kindness. The boy leaned in and gave Star a grateful peck on the cheek. The Mewman blushed a little, and her cheek marks started to glow.

"You're gonna do great things, Butterfly." Austin knowingly affirmed. He was about to turn and head to his vehicle, when Star suddenly pulled him in and kissed him on the lips, to return the favor and spite a certain Mewman-hating relative of his...

"Good luck out there, Maroon." Star kindly responded. Austin ecstatically giggled, his face rather red, and turned around to reach his taxi.

Before Austin entered the vehicle, he turned back to his friends one last time, and waved to them. "Goodbye, everyone!" He called out, to hear the same from all his friends. Austin smiled in satisfaction, waved once more, and entered the taxi.

As the vehicle drove off into the distance, Star trotted up to Marco. "I'm gonna miss him." The princess sighed.

"So will I, Star. So will I..." Marco replied. He'd certainly miss his inventor friend, but he was off on his own path to become a superhero...

"Well, I'm gonna head home now." Jackie said, as she placed her foot on her skateboard. "Oh, hey Marco!" She called out, as Marco's eyes widened.

"Y-yeah?" The safe kid stuttered.

"Are you free tomorrow? I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at the roller-skating rink?" Jackie asked, as Marco began to feel a lump in his throat.

Marco stammered incoherently, too nervous to answer, when Star kindly stepped in for him. "He'd love to." Star answered for her friend.

"Cool! See you tomorrow!" Jackie exclaimed, as she gracefully rode off on her skateboard.

"Thanks, Star." Marco said sheepishly, as the princess giggled.

"Smooth moves, Casanova." Janna sarcastically remarked.

"Isn't he adorable when he's embarrassed?" Star chirped, as Marco groaned, feeling like he made an idiot of himself.

"Well, I better go, before this gets awkward." Janna retorted, as she walked off to who-knows-where, leaving Star and Marco alone on the sidewalk.

"So, now what?" Marco asked, unsure of what to do next; After all, the day was still young.

"Well...Pony Head told me about this cool new dimension, and I was wondering if maybe...we could go exploring?" Star proposed.

"After all we went through last night?" Marco retorted.

"Well, we don't have to..." Star sighed in disappointment, when Marco spoke once more.

"I'd love to..."

"Oh, Marco!" Star squealed as she hugged her hoodie-wearing best friend. After letting go, the princess took out her scissors and tore open a portal.

"After you." She politely claimed, when Marco suddenly took hold of her hand.

"Let's go together." He suggested. And so, the two friends walked together hand-in-hand, venturing out into the great unknown...


	11. Epilogue

About a year had passed since Austin left Echo Creek. In the span of that year the Multiverse had changed drastically. Just a few days ago, Star had used the Whispering Spell to destroy all magic, and cleave Earth and Mewni together. While she ended up stopping the sinister Solarian warriors and ended up in a loving relationship with her new boyfriend Marco, there was a still a loose end that needed to be taken care of...

Down in a damp, dank swamp at the edge of a forest sat a quaint, decently-sized house of wood and straw. This strange house was inhabited by no people, but it was far from empty. No, this home was inhabited by a large and crowded family of frogs.

Yvgeny Bulgolyubov, better known by the easier to pronounce moniker "Buff Frog." was preparing a hearty dinner of flies, grubs and other insects for his twelve amphibian children. He was a heavy-set, frog-like humanoid who had fought Star in the past, but had turned over a new leaf to tend to his family.

"Papa, when will dinner be ready?" asked Katrina, the smallest of Buff Frog's daughters.

"Patience, little one I just need to add the swampberry sauce-" Buff Frog explained, when suddenly, the door was kicked down by an intruder!

The perpetrator responsible for such intrusion was none other than Mina Loveberry, the notorious Solarian warrior with a burning hatred for all monsters, be they evil or benign. After Star cleaved the dimensions, she was last seen running off into the woods, until now...

"A-ha! Sinister, evil, grody monsters! Prepare to be SMITED!" Mina shouted with vitriol, as she pointed a sword at Buff Frog. The dozen amphibian children all instinctively hid behind their father.

"Leave this place! You have already lost!" Buff Frog rebuked.

"As long as people like me exist, you scummy little monsters will never win!" Mina screamed, when the sound of a rocket was heard.

Suddenly, a caped figure landed behind Mina in a three-point stance, ready for action. "That's why I'm here." The stranger spoke in his deep, altered voice. This mysterious vigilante was none other than the renowned superhero, Maroon!

Maroon was wearing a new suit similar to his old one, with several key differences; His helmet's eyes were now a connected black visor, resembling a pair of sunglasses. His chestplate had a more futuristic look with red LED lights, his cape had a red lining on the inside, and his black shoulder pauldrons were engraved with two silver symbols; A crescent moon insignia on the left pauldron, and a star on the right.

"Who are YOU?" The Solarian snarled.

"The name's Maroon." The vigilante replied, as his cape swayed in the wind.

"Get lost, can't you see I'm trying to exact righteous justice upon these horrible monsters?" Mina groaned.

"The only monster here is you." Maroon remarked, as he entered a fighting stance.

"Alright, since you wanna be such a monster-smoocher, I'll kill you as a warm-up!" Mina clucked, as she pointed her sword at the vigilante.

"Bring it!" Maroon shouted, as the Solarian ran towards him in unbridled rage.

As Mina charged with her sword, Maroon snapped his fingers, and a lightsaber-like blade of red energy ignited from his right utility bracelet. Mina lifted her sword up high and brought it down upon the vigilante, but he cut right through the metal blade like it was butter. As Mina became aghast with horror, Maroon just laughed.

"Not so tough without your magic, huh?" Maroon remarked. Mina furiously shouted a war cry and ran at him with her fists balled. She punched Maroon in the face with all her might, but ended up breaking her hand on his rigid metal helmet.

Mina screamed in pain as she waved her broken hand around like a lunatic. While she was reeling on the ground, Maroon pointed his wrist-blaster at the former Solarian warrior. "Lights out." He snidely remarked as he snapped his fingers, firing a blast of red energy that knocked her out cold.

"That's the Mina she told me about?" Maroon asked himself, as he tied the villainous Mewman up with his whip-cord. "I've fought bike thieves who were tougher." The vigilante remarked, when he looked into the house and saw Buff's children staring in awe at what had unfolded in front of them.

"Uh...I'm sorry you kids had to see that." Maroon awkwardly uttered, when Buff Frog walked up to him.

"You saved my family." The monster complimented. "It's no problem. All in a day's work." The vigilante replied.

"Thank you, kind stranger!" The hefty frog-man exclaimed, as he enveloped Maroon in a bone-crushing hug, causing him to groan in pain.

When Buff Frog let him go, Maroon fell to the ground and grunted. He started breathing heavily to make up for lost air, and took off his helmet, revealing what but the face of a rather meek-looking, blue-eyed African-American teenager with dark hair grown out in short locs. All the kids stopped and stared at the young man under the mask; His true name was Austin Capers.

"You're just a boy." Buff Frog remarked, surprised that Maroon was someone so young.

"Correction; I'm a man on a mission, that I just accomplished." Austin answered.

"Well, who sent you?" The green-skinned monster asked. Austin sighed, and smiled; Just yesterday, he had returned to a Mewni-fied Echo Creek to re-unite with Star and Marco; Somehow, a friendly reunion got him roped into tracking an insane Solarian warrior.

Austin turned to Buff Frog, and spoke;

"Just a couple of...old friends..."

####  THE END 

#### 


End file.
